LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Backbench Debates

Peter Bone: To ask the Leader of the House if he will bring in a fixed day each week for backbench business for the remainder of this Session.

George Young: No.

Parliamentary Scrutiny

Simon Hughes: To ask the Leader of the House what plans he has for pre-legislative scrutiny of bills in the second Session of the current Parliament.

George Young: The Government have published nine draft measures this Session and are committed to publishing more measures in draft in the next Session for pre-legislative scrutiny.

SCOTLAND

Olympic Games 2012

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many invitations to attend events at the London 2012 Olympics (a) he, (b) other Ministers in his Department and (c) senior officials in his Department have accepted; and if he will make a statement.

David Mundell: Details of hospitality received by Ministers and special advisers and the most senior officials are published on a quarterly basis and will be available for July to September 2012 in due course.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Departmental Recruitment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department has spent on (a) recruitment services and (b) executive search agencies in each month since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Owen Paterson: My Department has not spent any money on recruitment services or executive search agencies since May 2010. When agency staff are engaged, the Department is charged an hourly rate for such staff and they are paid via their agency. The agency may include a fee element in the hourly rate it levies.

Voluntary Organisations

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what contribution his Department is making to implementation of the Compact with the voluntary sector; and if he will make a statement.

Hugo Swire: Responsibility for the voluntary sector in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter and the Northern Ireland Executive have their own arrangements in place.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Meals

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average cost of each meal provided to armed forces personnel was when stationed (a) in the UK, (b) in Germany and (c) overseas in an operational theatre in the latest period for which figures are available.

Peter Luff: At any one time some 70% of armed forces personnel in the UK and permanent bases overseas are catered for through a number of Catering, Retail and Leisure and other multi-activity contracts (incorporating Pay As You Dine arrangements) to deliver this and other services. Contractors are required to offer a core meal, covering breakfast, lunch and dinner, with set calorific and nutritional standards, in line with the prevailing daily food charge, which is currently capped by the Armed Forces Pay Review body at a maximum of £4.25 per day in UK and €4.85 per day in Germany. Service personnel can, however, choose an alternative retail offering if they prefer. Those serving in the UK at sites not covered by these arrangements are charged the standard daily food charge of £4.25 per day.
	Armed forces personnel serving on operations and exercises are not charged for the food provided to them.

Deloitte

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what contracts his Department has awarded to Deloitte since May 2010; and what the (a) net and (b) individual monetary value was of each such contract.

Peter Luff: holding answer 30 January 2012
	Since May 2010, MOD has awarded the following 16 contracts with Deloitte or associated companies:
	
		
			 Contract title Current contract value Current contract value (banded) Contract start date 
			 Sector transformation main gate business case scoping study £27,762 Under £100,000 23 November 2010 
			     
			 Technical support to assist with the implementation of the LE OC portfolio governance arrangements £32,130 Under £100,000 2 December 2010 
		
	
	
		
			     
			 Facility of community consultation event at RAF Brampton £45,000 Under £100,000 1 April 2011 
			     
			 Facility of community consultation event at RAF Brampton £63,800 Under £100,000 9 September 2010 
			     
			 Generic vehicle architecture cost benefit analysis £81,917 Under £100,000 7 March 2011 
			     
			 Merlin PT structural review £90,006 Under £100,000 13 April 2011 
			     
			 Network enabled airspace defence and surveillance (NEADS) acquisition strategy and business model study—part 2 £100,762 £100,000-£250,000 14 September 2010 
			     
			 External assistance to the Army 2020 study £106,000 £100,000-£250,000 4 January 2012 
			     
			 Technical support to the re-negotiation process £120,000 £100,000-£250,000 22 September 2010 
			     
			 Provision of accountancy and secretariat support to review board for government contracts £139,776 £100,000-£250,000 1 April 2011 
			     
			 Supporting services audit £179,712 £100,000-£250,000 4 May 2010 
			     
			 Whole force (equipment support) pilot study RM 353 catalyst multi-disciplinary framework £185,175 £100,000-£250,000 14 December 2011 
			     
			 Provision of technical support to the defence core network service commercial team £694,179 £500,000-£1 million 20 June 2011 
			     
			 And equipment end to end (E2E) support study £998,528 £500,000-£1 million 21 January 2011 
			     
			 Project and programme management and technical advice to the Vulcan disposal and decommissioning (VDAD) programme £2,160,000 £1-£5 million 2 August 2010 
			     
			 External assistance for defence infrastructure transformation programme £2,214,295 £1-£5 million 28 March 2011 
		
	
	The total value of these contracts is £7,239,042.

Departmental Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 31WS, on cost of ministerial cars, whether his Department has any other arrangements for ministerial travel; and how much his Department has spent on (a) private hire vehicles and (b) taxis for each Minister since May 2010.

Andrew Robathan: Road transport for the Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), is normally provided by the Metropolitan police. The junior Defence Ministers have, in accordance with the Ministerial Code published on 21 May 2010, given up their cars with a dedicated driver to reduce costs and now share a central Ministry of Defence (MOD) car pool with senior military officers and officials working in the MOD Main Building.
	The total cost of ministerial cars is as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Car cost (£) 
			 2009-10 (l)324,433 
			 2010-11 (2)171,041 
			 (1 )This includes £106,342.80 for ministerial car services provided by the Government Car and Despatch Agency as set out in the written ministerial statement of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 31WS. (2) This includes £39,419 for ministerial car services provided by the Government Car and Despatch Agency as set out in the written ministerial statement of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 31WS. 
		
	
	Expenditure by Defence Ministers on taxi fares and private hire vehicles totalled £316 between May 2010 and the end of December 2011.

Ex-servicemen: Health Services

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2012, Official Report, column 728W, on ex-servicemen: health services, how many patients referred to the Medical Assessment Programme suffering from (a) physical and (b) mental health disorders were subsequently directed back to the NHS in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what information and guidance he has provided to relevant (a) interest groups and (b) organisations on any changes in Medical Assessment Programme provision to patients presenting with physical health issues; and if he will place in the Library a copy of each item of information or guidance;
	(3)  how many patients were referred to the Medical Assessment Programme who had (a) physical and (b) mental disorders in each of the last five years.

Andrew Robathan: holding answer 30 January 2012
	Changes in the service provided by the Medical Assessment Programme have been notified on the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Veterans-UK, and NHS websites. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 December 2011, Official Report, column 962W, in which I explained that copies of the Ministry of Defence web pages have been placed in the Library of the House. The MOD has received one inquiry relating to changes to the programme from the Royal British Legion in December 2011, and I have placed a copy of our response in the Library of the House.
	The numbers of referrals for purely physical health problems over the last five years have been very low, but in such cases, referrals would be redirected through their general practitioner for treatment by the national health service (NHS), which has primary responsibility for health care provision to veterans. No records have been kept of the number of these cases in each of the last five years.
	The number of client referrals for mental health assessments during the same period has been stable at around 100 referrals each year; in these cases the details of the assessment and recommendations on treatment, if required, would be provided to the relevant NHS body.

France: Military Alliances

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether funding for the Hydrus project has been reallocated to the Teutates programme;
	(2)  what the cost to the public purse is of the Teutates programme.

Peter Luff: The Teutates programme is planned to deliver the hydrodynamics capability previously planned to be delivered through the Hydrus programme. Expenditure on Hydrus has therefore stopped; funding originally allocated for Hydrus has not, however, been reallocated to Teutates. The Teutates programme will seek the funding it requires separately, in accordance with established Ministry of Defence processes.
	I am withholding cost information for the Teutates programme as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests and impact on the formulation or development of Government policy.

India: European Fighter Aircraft

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with UK Trade and Investment on the decision of the Indian Government not to buy the Eurofighter.

Peter Luff: holding answer 7 February 2012
	We are obviously disappointed that the decision has been made by the Indian Government not to take forward Typhoon into the detailed negotiation stage of the Indian Medium Role Combat Aircraft competition.
	The campaign to export Typhoon to India being led by Germany on behalf of the Partner Nations is receiving significant UK support.
	There have been regular cross-Whitehall discussions throughout the campaign and MOD and UKTI remain in close touch on exports of Eurofighter Typhoon, including the campaign in India.
	Ministerial colleagues and I will continue to provide support to all Typhoon export campaigns as part of an active and innovative defence diplomacy initiative.

Radar: Wind Power

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent to change, alter, update or modify radar systems as a result of the presence or likely presence of UK on-shore wind farms; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: holding answer 9 February 2012
	The Ministry of Defence has not committed expenditure to change, alter, update or modify radar systems as a result of the presence, or likely presence, of UK on-shore wind farms. However, to overcome the interference to existing Ministry of Defence radars caused by wind farms, wind farm developers have agreed to fund the cost of three new wind farm tolerant radars.

Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay

Gordon Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether his Department detected and removed any of the radiation-related sources in Dalgety Bay in January 2012;
	(2)  what discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) on its January 2012 survey of Dalgety Bay, and the additional radiation-related sources, which SEPA has removed for analysis.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence detected and recovered a number of radioactive sources from Dalgety Bay in January 2012.
	The Ministry of Defence has held no formal discussions with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regarding their survey.
	However, I met Professor James Curran, chief executive of SEPA, in Rosyth on 31 January to discuss Dalgety Bay.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Metals: Theft

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, what the cost was of metal theft from Church of England property in (a) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, (b) the Tees Valley and (c) the Diocese of York in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Tony Baldry: The three Dioceses covering the areas specified in the question are Durham, Newcastle and York. The following figures have been obtained from Ecclesiastical Insurance which insures the majority of Churches in the country. They show the increase in claims for metal stolen from the church buildings for 2011 compared with 2010.
	
		
			 £000 
			  2010 2011 
			 Durham 85 87 
			 Newcastle 24 32 
			 York 71 115 
		
	
	The figures above do not include the cost to parishes in administrative support or the continued erosion of our national heritage.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Departmental Work Experience

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what work experience or traineeship schemes his Department offers to minority groups.

Bob Neill: The Department for Communities and Local Government participates in a summer diversity internship programme organised by the Cabinet Office, which offers work experience to graduates or undergraduates from minority groups.
	The Department also participates in the University of Greenwich summer internship programme. This scheme does not target any specific group.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

BBC

Diana Johnson: To ask the hon. Member for Aberdeen North, representing the House of Commons Commission, what plans the House of Commons Commission has to improve access to live BBC and other local radio and regional television services in the offices of hon. Members and their staff on the Parliamentary Estate.

Frank Doran: It is already possible to view the regional television news content and services that broadcasters make available on their websites, via the internet. The annunciator screens carry national and international television news, but the number of channels that can be provided through this system is limited. The current allocation was made on the recommendation of the Administration Committee.
	Work is being undertaken at present on the capacity of the annunciator system and the services which could be provided in the future. The hon. Member might find it helpful to speak directly to the Director General of Facilities on these detailed matters.

Cromwell Green Entrance

Jim Dowd: To ask the hon. Member for Aberdeen North, representing the House of Commons Commission, what plans there are to provide a covering over any part of the ramp that leads to the Cromwell Green visitors' entrance.

Frank Doran: The possibility of partly or entirely covering the ramp was considered as part of the original design of the visitor entrance. But Westminster city council planning officers and English Heritage provided firm advice that any obscuring of the west elevation of Westminster Hall or the statue of Oliver Cromwell would result in rejection of the planning application, and so covering the ramp was not included in the application. The Director General of Facilities rejected a business case proposing such a covering in early 2011 because this advice remained unchanged. It would be desirable to have a covering over the ramp, but no purpose would be served by planning one unless it was clear that the views of Westminster city council and English Heritage had changed.

INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS AUTHORITY COMMITTEE

Access

Helen Jones: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the cost was of (a) the tokens and (b) staff time for changing access tokens for hon. Members and their staff.

Charles Walker: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.
	Letter from Andrew McDonald, dated 8 February 2012
	As Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking about the cost and staff time taken to replace RSA tokens issued to Members and their staff.
	As communicated to all MPs via our MP Bulletin dated 23 January 2012, we took the decision to replace the tokens on the advice of RSA, the manufacturer of the tokens.
	The replacement tokens were supplied free of charge by RSA and the token exchange project has been managed in-house without any additional resourcing costs. Incidental costs relating to the replacement of tokens amount to approximately £300.
	The project is still underway but as of the 7th February 2012, IPSA has devoted 35.75 staff days to the project, including four events at the Palace of Westminster to allow Members to exchange their tokens and collect new ones.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Euthanasia

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Attorney-General whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to place the Code for Crown Prosecutors and the Policy for Prosecutors on cases of encouraging or assisting suicide on a statutory footing.

Edward Garnier: The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is under a statutory duty, set out in section 10 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, to issue a Code for Crown Prosecutors. I have no plans to legislate farther on the Code for Crown Prosecutors or to bring forward legislation to place the DPP's policy for prosecutors in respect of cases of encouraging or assisting suicide on a statutory footing.

Theft: Metals

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Attorney-General how many prosecutions were brought by the Crown Prosecution Service for offences relating to metal theft in the last five years for which figures are available.

Edward Garnier: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number of defendants prosecuted for offences relating to metal thefts and such data could not be reasonably obtained either locally or nationally other than by a manual exercise at disproportionate cost.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Atos Healthcare: Training

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2011, Official Report, column 1082W, on Atos Healthcare: training, what discussions he has had with Atos Healthcare on capacity pressures.

Chris Grayling: Over the last six months, there has been extensive discussion, meetings and workshops between DWP and Atos Healthcare where the capacity pressures have been discussed. The introduction of changes recommended by Professor Harrington resulted in an increase to the Medical Standard Time (MST), that is, the time taken on average to conduct a face to face medical assessment. The focus of discussions between DWP and Atos Healthcare has been on improving the new process and gradually reducing the impact of the Harrington changes with learning and development support, process efficiencies and a focus on recruitment and increasing productivity overall.
	20 December 2011, Official  Report, column 1082W: “training” was unrelated as it referred to mental health conditions that are not within their clinical specialism.

Atos Healthcare: Training

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2011, Official Report, column 1082W, on Atos Healthcare: training, what definition he uses of capacity pressures in relation to work capability assessments.

Chris Grayling: DWP have no formal definition of the term "capacity pressures" within the context of the contract with Atos Healthcare. DWP uses this term in relation to the ability of Atos Healthcare to deliver the required number of assessments. The introduction of changes to the work capability assessment (WCAs) process increased the time taken to conduct WCAs which reduced the capacity to deliver planned numbers of assessments. DWP and Atos are working together to improve this situation.
	20 December 2011, Official Report, column 1082W: “training” was unrelated as it referred to mental health conditions that are not within their clinical specialism.

Atos Healthcare: Training

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2011, Official Report, column 1082W, on Atos Healthcare: training, which other recommendations of the independent review of the work capability assessment have not been implemented due to capacity pressures at Atos Healthcare.

Chris Grayling: Professor Harrington recommended:
	“Better communication between Decision Makers and Atos healthcare professionals to deal with borderline cases”.
	The implementation of a telephone helpline so that decision makers can speak directly to Atos health care professionals to obtain medical advice in specific cases means increased capacity for communication between the two.
	Therefore it has been implemented, as have all of Professor Harrington's year one recommendations for Atos.

Employment and Support Allowance: Appeals

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2012, Official Report, columns 340-1W, on employment and support allowance: appeals, how many appeals against incapacity benefit reassessment decisions there have been in each month since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The Department plans to publish official statistics on outcomes of the work capability assessment for claimants going through the incapacity benefit reassessment process and will be announcing publication on the statistics publication hub in due course. These statistics will include information on appeals heard for these claimants.

Employment Schemes

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2012, Official Report, column 448W, on employment schemes, what data on sector-based work academies his Department plans to publish; and on what date publication will take place.

Chris Grayling: Figures on take-up of sector-based work academies pre-employment training, plus demographic breakdowns by age, gender, disability, ethnicity and geographic group, for August 2011 to November 2011 (the latest available time period) will be released for the first time on 15 February 2012 as part of the pre-Work programme support and ‘Get Britain Working’ publication.

Employment Schemes

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2012, Official Report, column 448W, on employment schemes, if he will place in the Library the summary of service standards and complaints process that each Work Programme provider issues to participants upon attachment.

Chris Grayling: We will arrange for the summary of service standards along with the complaints process that DWP requires Work programme providers to operate to be placed in the Library.

Employment: Literacy

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effects of literacy and numeracy levels on employment trends in Harlow constituency in each of the last 10 years.

John Hayes: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Trend data on literacy and numeracy levels and their effect on employment levels in Harlow constituency over each of the last 10 years are not available. The most recent available data on literacy and numeracy levels in the Harlow constituency are the modelled estimates based on the 2003 Skills for Life survey(1). Table 1 as follows provides the estimated numbers and proportions of adults aged between 16 and 65 (inclusive) at each literacy and numeracy level:
	(1) Available online at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100415101327/http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/readwriteplus_skillsforlifesurvey/statics/allpcons_881_0.shtml
	accessed on 7 February 2012. This webpage includes the literacy estimates for the Harlow constituency. Numeracy estimates are obtainable by clicking on the ‘Numeracy’ button above the table.
	
		
			 Table 1: Literacy and numeracy levels in Harlow constituency (2003) 
			  Literacy Numeracy 
			  Number Percentage Number Percentage 
			 Entry Level or below 5,435 10 27,290 48 
			 Level 1 26,340 46 18,580 33 
			 Level 2 or above 25,390 45 10,480 18 
			 Note: Numbers and proportions are estimates. Proportions may not sum to 100 due to rounding. Source: Modelled estimates based on the 2003 Skills for Life survey. 
		
	
	The fieldwork for the survey on which these modelled estimates are based was conducted between July 2002 and May 2003. No information is provided at a constituency level in the survey of the impact of literacy and numeracy levels on employment. The overall findings for England reported in the 2003 Skills for Life survey report indicated that the literacy and numeracy Levels of people in employment were higher than those who were not employed, as shown in tables 2 and 3 as follows:
	
		
			 Table 2: Literacy level by employment status in England, 2003 
			  Employed Non-employed 
			  All Full-time Part-time All Seeking work Not seeking work 
			 Entry level and below (percentage) 13 12 14 26 25 26 
			 Level 1 (percentage) 40 39 42 39 39 39 
			 Level 2 or above (percentage) 48 48 44 35 37 35 
			        
			 Base 5,485 4,086 1,399 2,379 308 2,071 
			 Base: All respondents in 2003 Skills for Life survey with literacy level recorded. Note: Figures may not sum to 100% due to rounding. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Numeracy level by employment status in England, 2003 
			  Employed Non-employed 
			  All Full-time Part-time All Seeking work Not seeking work 
			 Entry Level and below (percentage) 41 38 51 61 58 62 
			 Level 1 (percentage) 30 30 27 23 22 23 
			 Level 2 or above (percentage) 29 32 22 16 20 16 
			        
			 Base 5,544 4,127 1,417 2,489 322 2,167 
			 Base: All respondents in 2003 Skills for Life survey with numeracy level recorded. Note: Figures may not sum to 100% due to rounding. 
		
	
	It is worth noting that the correlation between employment and skill level does not necessarily imply a causal relationship, as other factors also affect both variables.

Housing Benefit

Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) individuals and (b) households in Sheffield will have a reduction in their benefits as a result of the implementation of his proposed benefit cap.

Chris Grayling: We estimate that in Sheffield around 300 households may be affected by the cap and that these households contain around 400 adults and 1300 children.
	On 23 January 2012 the Department published an updated impact assessment for the household benefit cap, which estimated that in Great Britain 67,000 households would be affected by the cap in the first year of its implementation (the financial year 2013-14). Following the concessions won in the House of Commons on 1( )February, these figures are of course subject to change ahead of the Welfare Reform Bill gaining Royal Assent.
	The impact assessment assumes that the situation of these households will go unchanged, and they will not take any steps to either work enough hours to qualify for working tax credit, renegotiate their rent in situ, or find alternative accommodation. In fact, in all cases the Department is working to support households through this transition, using existing provision through Jobcentre Plus and the Work programme to move as many into work as possible.

Housing Benefit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of households whose income would be affected by the household benefit cap (a) before and (b) after he announced a grace period.

Chris Grayling: The impact assessment published on the 23 January stated that 67,000 households would be affected by the household benefit cap in 2013-14.
	Following the concessions won in the House of Commons on 1 February, we estimate that the grace period of 39 weeks for claimants who have been in employment for 52 weeks or more before leaving work will reduce the number of households affected to around 57,000.
	The figures are of course subject to change ahead of the Welfare Reform Bill gaining Royal Assent.

Housing Benefit: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effects of his proposed household benefit cap on Northern Ireland.

Chris Grayling: Under the Welfare Reform Bill the benefit cap will be applied in Great Britain. Matters of social security in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Housing Benefit: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to his Department's impact assessment for the household benefit cap, for what reason households in Northern Ireland were not included in his assessment of the location and tenure of households affected.

Chris Grayling: Under the Welfare Reform Bill the benefit cap will be applied in Great Britain. The analysis in the Impact Assessment published on 23 January 2012 was therefore confined to Great Britain. Matters of social security in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Housing Benefit: Northern Ireland

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on the effects of his proposed household benefit cap on Northern Ireland.

Chris Grayling: Under the Welfare Reform Bill the benefit cap will be applied in Great Britain. Matters of social security in Northern Ireland are the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
	We are working closely with Northern Ireland Ministers and officials to support the delivery of welfare reform and universal credit. Several meetings have been held.

Mortgages: Repossession Orders

Anna Soubry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with the banking sector to ensure that people adversely affected by changes in support for mortgage interest rate are not placed at immediate risk of having their homes repossessed.

Steve Webb: We have discussions from time to time with the Council of Mortgage Lenders about support for mortgage interest. When we changed the standard interest rate to its current level of 3.63% in October 2010, the Council of Mortgage Lenders told the Department that it expects lenders to continue to exercise forbearance where it is fair to do so for the borrower, and the borrower has a chance of paying off any arrears in the future. The Council of Mortgage Lenders has told us that where arrears levels increase for some borrowers as a result of the change in the standard interest rate this does not necessarily translate into an immediate possession risk.
	We have made clear our expectation that lenders should continue to offer support and forbearance to their customers who are struggling with their mortgage repayments.
	Lenders are required to consider what they can do to prevent borrowers losing their homes. Under the Pre-Action Protocol, lenders must prove they have considered all other options before trying to repossess a property. For example, they may agree to change or lengthen the term of the loan, accept reduced payments in the short term, or add the debt to the amount borrowed.

Social Security Benefits

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of (a) (i) employment support allowance, (ii) disability living allowance and (iii) incapacity benefit claimants and (b) applicants for a review of a decision to award (i) employment support allowance, (ii) disability living allowance and (iii) incapacity benefit were from ethnic minorities in the last year for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: Ethnicity data are not available for disability living allowance (DLA) and incapacity benefit (IB)/severe disablement allowance (SDA) claimants. Information is only available for employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants.
	Table 1 presents ethnicity data for all people claiming ESA as at May 2011, the latest data available.
	
		
			 Table 1: Employment support allowance claimants by ethnicity: May 2011 
			 Ethnicity Number of claimants Percentage 
			 White 445,500 67 
			 Mixed 6,590 1 
			 Asian or Asian British 24,750 4 
			 Black or Black British 19,280 3 
			 Chinese or Other Ethnic Group 10,230 2 
			 Prefer not to say 43,720 7 
			 Unknown 112,170 17 
			 All 662,230 100 
			 Source: DWP 100% WPLS data 
		
	
	Ethnicity data on appeals against incapacity benefit, incapacity benefit reassessment and disability living allowance is not available.
	Table 2 gives the ethnic group breakdown of all claimants for employment and support allowance (ESA) who have appealed against a fit for work decision at their initial Work Capability Assessment (WCA).
	Note that the figures in table 2 are not directly comparable with the caseload ethnicity data provided in table 1 above since they cover a different time period.
	
		
			 Table 2: ESA appeals against a fit for work decision at the initial WCA, broken down by ethnic group. Appeals heard against claims starting between December 2009 and November 2010 
			 Ethnic group Number of appeals Percentage 
			 White 69,190 77 
			 Asian or Asian British 4,000 4 
			 Black or Black British 3,000 3 
			 Chinese or other 1,720 2 
			 Mixed 890 1 
			 Prefer not to say 4,660 5 
			 Unknown 6,940 8 
			 Total 90,390 100 
			 Notes: 1. Employment and support allowance replaced incapacity benefit and income support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008. 2. Percentages are rounded to the nearest percentage point. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Figures may not sum due to rounding. 4. Data shown in the tables above are available on the Department's website at: http://83.244.183.180/100pc/tabtool.html 5. Information is not available on the ethnicity of IB/SDA or DLA claimants. 6. DLA figures above show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. Source: Administrative data held by the DWP, assessment data provided by Atos Healthcare and appeals data provided by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service.

Unemployment

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many local newspapers were called by his Department following publication of the most recent unemployment figures.

Chris Grayling: The Department's press office contact local media as a matter of course every month following the publication of the Labour Market Statistics.
	This is to provide them with our press notice, to ensure they have all the information they need or if there is anything else that the Department can help them with.
	For January's figures, the press office contacted 176 local news outlets either via email or phone.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has stopped any IT contractors working on the universal credit programme in the last three months; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: We have not stopped any IT contractors working on the UC programme in the last three months. Our contractors/service providers HP, Accenture, IBM, BT and emergn all remain fully engaged working within the programme on planned activity.

Work Capability Assessment

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether Atos Healthcare employees involved in work capability assessment are subject to the Official Secrets Act 1989.

Chris Grayling: The work of Department for Work and Pensions is confidential and the Official Secrets Act binds all staff. Under the Act, it is a criminal offence for civil servants to disclose any official information without lawful authority. Atos Healthcare do not have to sign the Official Secrets Act. There are specified clauses in the Medical Services Agreement which confirms that Atos Healthcare will comply with the same confidentiality rules and any person found to be knowingly disclosing confidential information would be subject to disciplinary action and in some instances it could be treated as a criminal offence.

Work Capability Assessment

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether any Atos Healthcare (a) director and (b) employee involved in the work capability assessment received a performance-related bonus payment as part of the contract with his Department in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2011.

Chris Grayling: Health care professionals who are employed by Atos Healthcare to compile medical assessment reports do not receive bonuses and are not part of a bonus scheme.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Abu Qatada

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department has spent on cases involving Abu Qatada in each year since 2001.

Damian Green: The information requested could be obtained only by the examination of individual records at a disproportionate cost.

Animal Experiments: EU Law

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 2 November 2011, Official Report, column 638W, on animal experiments: EU law, when she expects draft legislation transposing EU Directive 2010/63/EU to be available for consultation; and which groups will be consulted.

Lynne Featherstone: We expect to publish regulations to transpose the provisions of European Directive 2010/63/EU in May 2012.
	During the process of transposing the directive we are regularly engaging with the bioscience sector, animal welfare and protection groups, funding bodies, training accreditors and practitioners under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, and will continue to do so until the transposition process is completed.

Asylum: Appeals

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average number was of appeals an asylum seeker in the UK went through before being either deported or granted leave to remain in the latest period for which figures are available.

Damian Green: This information is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost through the examination of individual case files. However, a person applying for asylum is only able to appeal once against a decision. They are able to challenge a decision by appealing to the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal of the Courts and Tribunals Service, and thereafter to the Upper Tribunal and onward to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. The onward right of appeal is with permission of the relevant court or tribunal, and lies only on the ground that the previous court or tribunal made a material error in law.

Asylum: West Midlands

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Iranian nationals who are claiming asylum in the UK are resident in Birmingham, Ladywood constituency.

Damian Green: Constituency level data is not held in a format compatible with National Statistics. However published statistics are available on a quarterly and annual basis which cover all UK asylum claims by nationality. Published statistics show that for the period January to September 2011 there were 1,714
	(1,2)
	asylum applications received from Iranian nationals.
	(1) All published figures for 2011 are provisional.
	(2) Data relates to main applicants only.

Civil Disorder

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many claims from police authorities have been made to her Department for reimbursement of payments made by police authorities under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886;
	(2)  how many reimbursement payments her Department has made to police authorities under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886 since August 2011; and what the monetary value was of those payments.

Theresa May: holding answer 6 February 2012
	All claims received by the Home Office from police authorities have been paid. So far that amounts to three claims for reimbursement totalling £707,000. The Home Office stands ready to fund further claims. However, the vast majority of householders and businesses have already received full or interim payments from insurance companies.

Departmental Billing

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of her Department's invoices from its private sector suppliers were paid (a) within 14 days, (b) between 15 and 30 days, (c) between 31 and 60 days, (d) between 61 and 90 days and (e) more than 90 days after receipt in the last 12 months.

Damian Green: The data in the tables include both compliant and non-compliant invoices that the Home Office and its Agencies have paid their suppliers in the period January to December 2011. Non-compliant invoices include those disputed or those which contain insufficient detail to pay without further investigation.
	The number and percentage of invoices that the Home Office and the UK Border Agency have paid their suppliers in the period January to December 2011 is as follows:
	
		
			 Table 1: HO HQ & UKBA 
			 Days Number of invoices paid Percentage 
			 (a) 0-14 58,678 89.4 
			 (b) 15-30 4,514 6.88 
			 (c) 31-60 1,469 2.24 
			 (d) 61-90 473 0.72 
			 (e) 90+ 498 0.76 
		
	
	The number and percentage of invoices that the Criminal Records Bureau has paid it suppliers in the period January to December 2011 is as follows:
	
		
			 Table 2: CRB 
			 Days Number of invoices paid Percentage 
			 (a) 0-14 483 97.38 
			 (b) 15-30 11 2.22 
			 (c) 31-60 2 0.40 
			 (d) 61-90 0 0 
			 (e) 90+ 0 0 
		
	
	Information for the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) for the period 1 January to 21 November 2011 could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information for the IPS for the period 22 November to 31 December 2011 is as follows:
	
		
			 Table 3: IPS 
			 Days Number of invoices paid Percentage 
			 (a) 0-14 28 77.78 
			 (b) 15-30 2 5.56 
			 (c) 31-60 5 13.89 
			 (d) 61-90 0 0 
			 (e) 90+ days 1 2.78 
		
	
	Information for the National Fraud Authority (NFA) for the period 1 January to 30 September could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information for the NFA for the period 1 October to 31 December is as follows:
	
		
			 Table 4: NFA 
			 Days Number of invoices paid Percentage 
			 (a) 0-14 15 83.33 
			 (b) 15-30 3 16.67 
			 (c) 31-60 0 0 
			 (d) 61-90 0 0 
			 (e) 90+ 0 0 
		
	
	The information provided is for all suppliers. The Home Office does not distinguish between private sector and the public sector suppliers in this respect. To do so would incur disproportionate cost.

Departmental Data Protection

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases of (a) data loss and (b) breaches of confidentiality occurred in her Department in 2011.

Damian Green: holding answer 8 February 2012
	The Home Office has published details of protected personal data related incidents notified to the Information Commissioner's Office in 2010-11 in its resource accounts. Of these incidents two related to cases of data loss and two related to breaches of confidentiality.
	The Home Office has also published details of incidents deemed by the Data Controller not to fall within the criteria for report to the Information Commissioner's Office. Of these incidents eight related to cases of data loss and 10 related to breaches of confidentiality. This information is collated annually. Figures covering the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 are due to be published in Quarter 2 2012.
	The 2010-11 resource accounts are available from the Home Office website at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/corporate-publications/annual-report-201011

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was paid to officials in her Department and its non-departmental public bodies in (a) bonuses, (b) allowances and (c) other payments additional to basic salary in each of the last two years for which figures are available; what categories of payment may be made to officials in addition to basic salary; what the monetary value is of each category of payment; and what the monetary value was of the 20 largest such payments made in each of the last two years.

Damian Green: The information requested is set out in the following tables:
	Table 1: Non-consolidated performance payments.
	Table 2: Largest 20 non-consolidated performance payments.
	Table 3: Allowances in addition to salary.
	There are two separate sets of these three tables: one set covers Home Office HQ, the UK Border Agency (UKBA), the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) and the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB); the other set covers the Home Office's non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs).
	Non-consolidated performance payments are one off payments which are non-pensionable, paid only to the top achievers and which are used to help drive performance.
	Allowances comprise skills and recruitment and retention allowances. The figures exclude locational allowances and temporary payments, such as those paid to staff for fulfilling temporary duties. They also exclude expenses, for example the reimbursement of costs actually and necessarily incurred in the course of official business.
	Pay arrangements for the senior civil service (SCS) are based on a framework set by the Cabinet Office. For staff below the SCS, Departments, agencies and NDPBs have delegated authority to tailor reward packages to meet their own business needs, and performance pay and pay-related allowances are a matter for each organisation.
	
		
			 Table 1: In-year and end of year non-consolidated performance payments 
			 Financial year Total value of payments Number of staff receiving Total number of staff eligible to receive payment Total value of largest 20 payments (£) 
			 2010-11 531,054 721 5,655 105,824 
			 2009-10 915,993 924 5,818 213,893 
			 Note: Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) joined the Home Office on 1 April 2011; figures for 2009-10 do not include EHRC. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Largest 20 non-consolidated payments 
			 £ 
			 Payment 2010-11 2009-10 
			 1 10,000 16,793 
			 2 8,460 16,350 
			 3 8,250 12,500 
			 4 5,000 10,000 
		
	
	
		
			 5 5,000 10,000 
			 6 5,000 10,000 
			 7 5,000 10,000 
			 8 5,000 10,000 
			 9 5,000 10,000 
			 10 5,000 10,000 
			 11 5,000 10,000 
			 12 5,000 10,000 
			 13 5,000 10,000 
			 14 5,000 10,000 
			 15 5,000 10,000 
			 16 5,000 10,000 
			 17 5,000 10,000 
			 18 4,232 10,000 
			 19 2,482 10,000 
			 20 2,400 8,250 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Allowances in addition to salary 
			 Financial year Allowances in addition to salary (£) 
			 2010-11 1,004,093 
			 2009-10 1,018,864

Deportation: Peterborough

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals last registered as domiciled in the Peterborough city council area and who have no legal basis to remain in the UK were removed by the UK Border Agency in each quarter since May 2005; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: holding answer 7 February 2012
	Constituency level data are not held in a format compatible with National Statistics. However published statistics are available on a quarterly and annual basis which provides figures on all removals from the UK. These data are not available broken down by region. The following table was extracted from published statistics and shows all in-country removals for the period January 2005 to September 2011:
	
		
			  Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 
			 2005 6,492 6,338 7,745 7,834 
			 2006 8,122 8,593 7,196 8,060 
			 2007 7,490 7,890 8,381 8,461 
			 2008 8,809 8,627 9,842 8,336 
			 2009 8,685 8,898 9,955 10,514 
			 2010 11,106 10,424 10,531 9,907 
			 2011 10,402 7,448 9,112 — 
			 Notes: 1. Data from Q1 2010 onwards are provisional. 2. Figures include dependants. 3. Figures include all in-country enforced and voluntary removals (including data matching). 4. Data are extracted from table rv.01.q at the following url: ‘Removals and voluntary departures data tables Immigration Statistics July - September 2011’ (Microsoft Excel file - 6mb - Warning: large file) http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/immigration-tabs-q3-2011/removals-q3-11-tabs 5. Figures for October to December 2011 are scheduled for publication on 23 February 2012.

Driving: Young People

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to allow car rental companies to refuse to rent cars to drivers under the age of 23; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: holding answer 6 February 2012
	We are currently considering the issue and will announce our decision in the Government's published response to the 2011 age discrimination consultation in due course.

Entry Clearances: Foreign Workers

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many work permit intracompany transfers were granted in respect of each (a) nationality and (b) occupation in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Damian Green: holding answer 16 January 2012
	The work permit intracompany transfer scheme closed in 2008 and was replaced by the Tier 2 (intracompany transfer) category of the points based system.
	The Home Office does not hold the statistical data requested.

Entry Clearances: Iran

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long on average Iranian citizens wishing to enter the UK for a holiday wait for a visa; and what steps have been taken to enable Iranians to obtain such visas following the closure of the UK embassy in Tehran.

Damian Green: The UK Border Agency publishes information on processing times for visa applications on its website at:
	www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
	In common with all nationals who require visas to visit the UK, Iranian nationals can apply for a visa to visit the UK at any visa application centre worldwide.

Immigrants: Employment

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to ensure that migrants have the necessary skills for employment.

Damian Green: In April 2011 we made significant changes to the rules governing the admission of skilled workers, including introducing a higher minimum skills requirement of National Qualifications Framework level 4. We have now asked the Migration Advisory Committee to look at whether it is right to raise further the minimum skills levels.
	We have increased English language requirements to ensure that all migrant workers are able to speak English to an appropriate level.

Internet

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what consideration she is giving to (a) purchasing new capabilities to monitor social media and (b) increasing the resources her Department allocates to monitor social media.

James Brokenshire: The Government are committed to a free and open internet. It is also important that law enforcement has the necessary capabilities to assess and identify potential criminality disclosed through social media and other online communication platforms. Work is under way to consider how existing capabilities within law enforcement can be enhanced. We will consider any additional resource requirements in the light of this work.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letter of 22 December 2011 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Jano Ridwa.

Damian Green: I refer the right hon. Member to my letter of 6 February 2012.

Police

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 28 November 2011, Official Report, column 1071W, on police, when (a) Ministers and (b) officials of her Department have met representatives of each body referred to in the answer since May 2010; and what the name is of each Diversity Staff Support Association.

Nick Herbert: Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
	The national police Diversity Staff Support Associations (DSSAs) are as follows:
	British Association of Women in Policing
	British Sikh Police Association
	Christian Police Association
	Gay Police Association
	National Association of Muslim Police
	National Black Police Association
	National Disabled Police Association
	National Trans Police Association.

Police: Infant Mortality

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what (a) funding and (b) guidance her Department provided to police forces on support for parents who have experienced sudden infant death.

Nick Herbert: While the Home Office provides the majority of core Government funding to the police, each force has the freedom and flexibility to make spending decisions locally. As such, there is no specific or ring-fenced funding to forces for the provision of support to parents who have experienced sudden infant death. The Home Office has not issued guidance on this subject.

Police: Information and Communications Technology

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what savings she expects to make on policing ICT costs following the establishment of the new police information and communications technology company in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15.

Nick Herbert: The Government have been clear that there is potential for at least £180 million of savings per annum through ICT. Forces have already made substantial savings. The company will assist in driving out savings by offering services that help forces to achieve efficiencies and operational effectiveness through the procurement, re-use and management of their ICT. The savings forces will make will depend on their choices of company services.

Security: Olympic Games 2012

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost to the public purse was of the recent tests of security measures in Glasgow for the London 2012 Olympics; and what proportion of the cost was paid by the (a) Government and (b) Scottish Government.

James Brokenshire: The recent testing of security arrangements at the Hampden Park football stadium were undertaken by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG). The Government announced last year that they were making £553 million available to LOCOG for venue security, and the recent testing is funded from this. There is no additional cost to the Government, or to the Scottish Government.

Yvonne Fletcher

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent reports she has received from the Metropolitan Police on the investigation into the death of WPC Yvonne Fletcher

Nick Herbert: The investigation into the death of WPC Yvonne Fletcher is ongoing. I am therefore unable to comment on the case.

TREASURY

Banks: Iceland

Alistair Darling: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment (a) he and (b) the Financial Services Authority has made of the findings of the Special Investigation Commission established by the Icelandic government into the failure of Icelandic banks in 2008 published on 12 April 2010; if he will place in the Library a copy of the English translation of the report; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: The Special Investigation Commission's report has not been translated into English. The parts of the report that have been translated in English are available online at the following link:
	http://sic.althingi.is/
	The Treasury has not undertaken an assessment on the report.

City of London Corporation

John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings he had with the City of London Corporation in preparation for the most recent EU summit.

Chloe Smith: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
	A list of ministerial meetings with external organisations is published quarterly on the HM Treasury website:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Departmental Data Protection

David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases of (a) data loss and (b) breaches of confidentiality occurred in his Department in 2011.

Chloe Smith: holding answer 8 February 2012
	There is no record of any data loss in HM Treasury in 2011, but there have been three accidental breaches of confidentiality during that period.
	The three accidental breaches in confidentiality came from low risk emails inadvertently being sent to “no need to know” addressees. On each of these occasions, immediate action was undertaken to satisfactorily rectify the situation.

Departmental Food

Neil Parish: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of food purchased by his Department was produced in the UK in each of the last five years.

Chloe Smith: The data requested are only available for the last three financial years:
	2010-11: 71%
	2009-10: 58%
	2008-09: 55%.
	HM Treasury's catering services are supplied by a sub-contractor to Exchequer Partnership, the Department's PFI supplier. The services provided were accredited by Assured Food Standards in July 2010, enabling them to display the Red Tractor logo within establishments where they provide a catering service.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what receptions and events have been hosted by his Department since May 2010, including those sponsored by a third party.

Chloe Smith: HM Treasury does not hold a central record of receptions and events hosted by the Department. The information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Responsibilities

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer at how many events organised by (a) charities, (b) other civil society groups, (c) businesses and (d) lobbying organisations Ministers and senior officials in his Department have given speeches in each month since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: Treasury Ministers and senior officials speak regularly to a wide variety of organisations as part of their official duties. Copies of speeches made by Treasury ministers and senior officials are available on the Treasury website at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches.htm

Departmental Responsibilities

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the average number of hours per day he was engaged on official duties in the last three months.

Chloe Smith: The information requested is not held centrally. Responsibilities of Treasury Ministers are set out on the Treasury website at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about_whoweare_index.htm

Departmental Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 31WS, on cost of ministerial cars, whether his Department has any other arrangements for ministerial travel; and how much his Department has spent on (a) private hire vehicles and (b) taxis for each Minister since May 2010.

Chloe Smith: The total amount spent on taxis (excluding VAT) by HM Treasury Ministers between May 2010 and December 2012 is £11,498.01. There has been no spending on private hire vehicles for Ministers since May 2010.

EU Countries

John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many visits (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department made to (i) Brussels and (ii) Frankfurt in an official capacity in 2011.

Chloe Smith: Details of ministerial overseas travel are published quarterly on the Treasury website:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Hargreaves Lansdown

John Mann: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what meetings he has had with (a) directors, (b) partners and (c) employees of Hargreaves Lansdown since 10 May 2010.

Chloe Smith: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
	A list of Ministerial meetings with external organisations is published quarterly on the HM Treasury website:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Members: Correspondence

Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  when the Financial Secretary to the Treasury plans to respond to letters from the right hon. Member for Leicester East of 29 October 2010 and 19 March 2011 concerning a constituent;
	(2)  when he expects to respond to the letters from the right hon. Member for Leicester East of (a) 4 June 2011, (b) 19 March 2011 and (c) 29 October 2010 concerning Mrs Jansari;
	(3)  when he plans to reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Leicester East of 25 July 2011 and 19 March 2011 concerning a constituent, Ms Jansari;
	(4)  when he will respond to letters from the hon. Member for Leicester East concerning his constituent Ms Jansari dated 4 and 25 June 2011; and when the Financial Secretary to the Treasury will respond to letters from the hon. Member for Leicester East of 29 October 2010 and 19 March 2011 also concerning Ms Jansari.

Mark Hoban: I have now replied to the right hon. Member.

Olympic Games 2012

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many invitations to attend events at the London 2012 Olympics (a) he, (b) other Ministers in his Department and (c) senior officials in his Department have accepted; and if he will make a statement.

Chloe Smith: Details of hospitality received by Ministers and special advisers and HM Treasury's most senior officials are published on a quarterly basis and will be available for July to September 2012 in due course.

Research: Finance

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what fiscal measures he plans to take to encourage research and innovation at UK universities.

Danny Alexander: In order to support the highest value research in UK universities, Spending Review 2010 (SR10) maintained the science budget in cash terms until 2014-15 with resource spending of £4.6 billion per annum. Since SR10, £495 million of capital to support research and innovation has been allocated over the SR period, including for: science campuses to provide facilities for the commercialisation of research and encourage innovative SMEs to make links with the research base, high performance computing to support sophisticated university and business research and a national graphene hub to connect UK researchers and businesses working to commercialise applications of graphene.
	The tax system incentivises research, development and innovation through R and D tax credits. The SME scheme rate of relief was increased from 175% to 200% from 1 April 2011 and will be increased to 225% from 1 April 2012. In addition, an above the line R and D tax credit will be introduced from April 2013 to encourage research and development activity by larger companies. The Government will consult on the detail of the credit at Budget 2012. Further incentives for research and innovation are provided through the Patent Box—applying a reduced 10% rate of corporation tax on profits from patents from April 2013.
	The impact of measures to encourage research and innovation will be kept under review and decisions on any new measures may be taken at fiscal events.

Taxation: Business

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of the (a) corporation tax and (b) valued added tax paid by businesses in the latest period for which figures are available was paid by (i) micro-entities, (ii) micro-businesses, (iii) small businesses and (iv) medium-sized businesses.

David Gauke: It is not possible to provide on a consistent basis, the proportion of tax revenue raised from (i) micro-entities, (ii) micro-businesses (iii) small businesses and (iv) medium-sized businesses for corporation tax or VAT.
	For corporation tax a breakdown based on profit is available on the HMRC website for those paying via the Quarterly Instalment Regime and the Non-Quarterly Instalment Regime. Companies that make profits for an accounting period at a rate of over £1.5 million annually must normally pay by instalments:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/corporate_tax/table11-1a.pdf
	HMRC also publishes information by tax liability, with a breakdown of those paying main rate, marginal rate and small companies rate. Companies with no associates with chargeable profits less than £300,000 pay small companies rate and those with chargeable profits between £300,000 and £1.5 million pay marginal rate:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/corporate_tax/table11-3.pdf
	Home VAT is VAT charged on supplies of goods and services made in the UK. Information on the amount of home VAT received by turnover is available from the UK Trade Info website:
	https://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=factvat

Taxation: Combined Heat and Power

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of relief from the carbon price floor on combined heat and power; what recent discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have held with industry on this matter; and whether he or the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is ultimately responsible for this policy;
	(2)  whether he plans to extend the use of Levy Exemption Certificates for combined heat and power until 2017; and whether State Aid Approval is required.

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on combined heat and power stations of the proposed carbon floor price for fuel used for heat generation.

Chloe Smith: The Government announced in March 2011 that the exemption from the climate change levy (CCL) for electricity generated from CHP plants that is supplied indirectly to an energy consumer will be removed from 1 April
	2013.
	An assessment of the impacts of the carbon price floor is given in HMRC's Tax Information and Impact Note published alongside the Budget, available online at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/budget2011/tiin6111.pdf
	The assessment of the impacts of removing the exemption from the climate change levy (CCL) for electricity generated from CHP plants that is supplied indirectly to an energy consumer was published alongside the autumn statement and is available online at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tiin/tiin700.pdf
	The Government will announce in due course the level of relief for combined heat and power.
	Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
	The Department for Energy and Climate Change is responsible for the long-term strategy on heat and the treatment of combined heat and power. The Treasury is responsible for tax policy.

Taxation: Gambling

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2011, Official Report, column 408W, on taxation: gambling, when he intends to announce a decision on whether to proceed with reform.

Chloe Smith: On 18 July 2011, the Government announced their intention to review the taxation regime for remote gambling, looking at the case for taxing operators on the basis of customer location.
	The Government expect to announce the outcome of the review at Budget 2012.

World War I: Anniversaries

Keith Simpson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans his Department has to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.

Chloe Smith: Traditionally, we mark the anniversary of the conclusion of a conflict rather than its beginning. So the main commemorations will be on the centenary of the end of the first world war in 1918. However, given the importance of the centenary of world war one, a number of anniversaries of key events from 2014 to 2018, including the beginning of the war, will be marked in an appropriate way. The Prime Minister has asked my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) to act as his special representative and coordinator for world war one commemorations. Dr Murrison will work with international partners to ensure that the UK plays a full and active role; and will coordinate the cross-Whitehall effort in respect of the commemorations.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Australia: Anniversaries

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any plans to mark the centenary of Canberra.

Jeremy Browne: The centenary of Canberra will be an important event for all Australians. The Australian Capital Territory has implemented a Canberra 100 taskforce to oversee the celebrations throughout 2013.
	At this early stage, representatives from our high commission in Canberra are in discussions with the Canberra 100 organising committee, and will participate in commemorative events involving the diplomatic community.

Burma

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of Burma on the recruitment of child soldiers into the Burmese Army.

Jeremy Browne: The use of child soldiers continues to be a problem in the Burmese military and some armed ethnic groups. Many children continue to work, largely due to poverty, and there remains no code of conduct to protect working children. There is little protection under the law for how children are treated within the Burmese police justice system.
	The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) visited Burma on 5-6 January 2012. During his visit the Foreign Secretary urged further reforms and emphasised the importance of an end to conflict, humanitarian access, political dialogue and national reconciliation.
	We will continue to work closely with civil society organisations and UN agencies on children's issues. We support the work of the International Labour Organization in highlighting the problems and need for action on child labour and underage recruitment in the military. We raised the use of children in armed conflict in Burma in the UN Security Council in November. We supported a reference in the resolutions on Burma at the Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly, calling on the Government to end the recruitment of child soldiers by the armed forces and other armed groups, to intensify measures to ensure the protection of children in armed conflict, and to intensify its co-operation with the UN in this area. The Department for International Development's Operational Plan for 2011-15 aims to support more than 200,000 children through primary school in Burma.

Burma

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on abuses of human rights in ethnic states in Burma in 2011.

Jeremy Browne: During his visit to Burma in January of this year, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) heard first-hand the concerns and aspirations of different ethnic minorities, including the Shan, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Chin, Mon, Rakhine and Rohingya communities.
	Our ambassador regularly meets Burmese Ministers in Naypyidaw, raising our human rights concerns directly with the Government. Our embassy officials also provided regular updates throughout 2011 on the situation in-country, and their reporting helped us to ensure that the resolutions on human rights in Burma at the Human Rights Council and the Third Committee at the UN General Assembly were well-evidenced and reflected positive progress as well as detailing concerns.

Burma

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations his Department has made to the Government of Burma on spending on health and education.

Jeremy Browne: The Burmese Government have stated their commitment to the UN's Millennium Development Goals, which include achieving universal access to primary education and health care provision.
	During his visit in November 2011, the Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), met with the Burmese President and Health Minister and pressed them on the need for the Government to use their budget for the benefit of the people. Department for International Development officials have also met with both the Education and Health Ministers to urge the Government to increase its spending on health and education.
	We understand that the Burmese Parliament is now in the process of agreeing its budget and hope it will include big increases for health and education. We will continue to press the Burmese to honour their commitments.

Burma: Political Prisoners

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contact he has had with the Burmese authorities about the release of political prisoners in Burmese jails in the last year.

William Hague: During my visit to Burma in January 2012, I welcomed recent progress, in particular the release of some political prisoners in 2011, and urged the Burmese President to commit to the further release of all political prisoners, in time for the by-elections on 1 April. Most recently, the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the hon. Member for Taunton Deane (Mr Browne), raised the issue of the remaining political prisoners directly with the Burmese ambassador when they met on 6 February.
	I welcomed the release of a significant number of political prisoners on 13 January, including 88 Generation and ethnic leaders. However, a number of prisoners remain. We will continue to call for the release of all political prisoners with the Burmese authorities.

Burma: Political Prisoners

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the potential consequences of the decision by the Burmese authorities to release political prisoners on 13 January 2012.

William Hague: The release of political prisoners on 13 January 2012 was a further demonstration of the Burmese Government's commitment to reform. It included almost all prominent political prisoners, including members of the 88 Generation and some ethnic leaders. The timing of the release was additionally significant because those released can now contest and campaign in the by-elections on 1 April increasing the likelihood that those elections will be genuinely inclusive.

Chevening Scholarships Programme

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost of maintaining Chevening was under each budget heading in each of the last two years.

David Lidington: I refer the hon. Member to the response my noble Friend, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, gave in the other place on 26 October 2011, Official Report, House of Lords, column WA155.

Departmental Drinks

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many bottles from the Government wine cellar have been sold in the last year; and how much revenue has been generated by such sales in the last year.

Henry Bellingham: I refer my hon. Friend to my written statement of 13 May 2011, Official Report, column 49WS, in which I said that there will be an annual statement to Parliament on the use of the wine cellar, covering consumption, stock purchases, costs, and value for money, and that a report on the cellar's operations will be placed in the Library of the House during the month of May following the end of the appropriate financial year.
	Sales from the cellar are in-hand for the financial year 2011-12, and further sales are planned in FY 2012-13.

Departmental Drinks

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs by what date he expects the Government wine cellar to be self-financing.

Henry Bellingham: I refer the hon. Member to my written statement of 13 May 2011, Official Report, column 49WS, in which I said that there will be an annual statement to Parliament on the use of the wine cellar, covering consumption, stock purchases, costs, and value for money, and that a report on the cellar's operations will be placed in the Library of the House during the month of May following the end of the appropriate financial year.
	Sales from the cellar are in-hand for the financial year 2011-12, and further sales are planned in FY 2012-13.

Departmental Drinks

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the value of his Department's wine cellar; and what the 20 most valuable bottles are.

Henry Bellingham: I refer the hon. Member to my written statement of 13 May 2011, Official Report, column 49WS, in which I said that there will be an annual statement to Parliament on the use of the wine cellar, covering consumption, stock purchases, costs, and value for money, and that a report on the cellar's operations will be placed in the Library of the House during the month of May following the end of the appropriate financial year.

Departmental Food

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of food purchased by his Department was produced in the UK in each of the last five years.

David Lidington: The proportion of food purchased by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and produced in the UK in each of the last five years is as follows:
	April 2011 to date: 57%
	2010-11: 25%.
	Data for 2007-2010 were not compiled in this format and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	For 2010-11 ‘Produced in the UK’ is defined as of guaranteed UK provenance which can be fully traced back to the source, i.e. food that has been grown and harvested or born, bred and slaughtered in the UK. Therefore we have not included any products that, even though may have been produced or manufactured in the UK, are of mixed origin.
	For 2011-12 the figure more accurately reflects the DEFRA definition of food produced, sourced or manufactured in the UK. In addition we can confirm the following:
	100% of our fresh beef is UK sourced
	100% of our fresh pork joints is UK sourced
	100% of fresh milk is both UK sourced and Red Tractor
	100% of shell eggs are UK sourced and Lion marked
	All of our potatoes and root vegetables are sourced from UK when in season.
	The data for 2010-11 relating to this request and other food related targets are published on the FCO website.
	This answer relates to the UK catering contract only. It would incur disproportionate cost to source this information from our network of Posts as this information is held locally.

Departmental Manpower

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many (a) male and (b) female staff his Department employs (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas.

Henry Bellingham: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office records the gender of its UK based civil servants and locally engaged staff. At 1 January 2012 the information requested was:
	
		
			  UK based staff Locally engaged staff 
			  (a) Male (b) Female (a) Male (b) Female 
			 (i) In the UK 1,366 1,320 — — 
			 (ii) Overseas 1,207 636 4,775 3,914

Departmental Training

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many away days his Department has held since May 2010; what the location was of each such away day; how many staff attended; and what the cost was of each such event.

Henry Bellingham: Responsibility for such events is devolved to directorates and our network of nearly 270 Posts overseas. This information is not held centrally and details could be provided only at disproportionate cost. All officials have been reminded that they must keep expenditure on away days to a minimum, partly by making use of official premises which are cost free.

Developing Countries: Christianity

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has recently taken to protect Christians abroad from persecution; and if he will make a statement.

William Hague: Protecting religious freedoms and preventing discrimination on religious grounds is a key human rights issue for the Government. Ministers and Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff in our missions overseas regularly raise our concerns with host governments. Where possible, they take action on individual cases and lobby for changes in discriminatory practices and laws. This includes recent efforts in relation to the situations in Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan.
	We have also been developing a strategy and programme of work to strengthen our approach in this area. As part of this effort, we have nominated a number of pilot countries to test out new approaches to promoting freedom of religion and belief, providing funding for projects in support of our policy objectives. We have also agreed a number of recommendations for activity in the EU, OSCE and UN.

Developing Countries: Christianity

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the threat posed to Christians around the world.

William Hague: The members of my Advisory Group on Human Rights identified freedom of religion as a key human rights issue at our first meeting in December 2010. Officials subsequently mapped out a programme of work to strengthen our freedom of religion or belief policy in 2011. As part of this, I asked for a review of the treatment of religious minorities worldwide. The review highlighted the widespread nature of religious discrimination and that overall restrictions, including on Christians, remain high.

Egypt: Politics and Government

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contact he has had with the authorities in Egypt about recent developments in that country.

William Hague: I am following events in Egypt closely and we have discussed recent events with the Egyptian authorities at the highest level. On 30-31 January the Chief of Defence Staff visited Cairo where he held discussions with Egyptian military leaders and other political leaders about the political situation in Egypt. He also met the Grand Imam of AI Azhar, the highest Sunni authority in Egypt, whose voice carries great public weight. On 2 February, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt) visited Cairo. He held discussions with a range of political figures, including the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament and the President of the Freedom and Justice Party, which won the largest share of the vote in recent parliamentary elections.

European Union

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department plans to publish a White Paper on repatriation of powers from the EU.

William Hague: The Government's stated intention is to examine the balance of the EU's existing competences. That review does not have a pre-determined outcome.

Falkland Islands Dependencies: Environment Protection

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department is sponsoring any schemes in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands to promote marine biodiversity and conservation of marine species.

Henry Bellingham: The principles of environmental protection and sustainable ecosystem management are enshrined in the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands' published strategy. For example, the South Georgia tooth fish fishery achieved the third highest Marine Stewardship Council certification in the world. Any decision further to strengthen these policies will be for the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which has been discussing with interested parties the possible designation of a sustainable use marine protected area. However, we would support moves which preserve the rich biodiversity of the islands.

Falkland Islands: Sovereignty

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contact he has had with representatives of Mercosur on its decision to forbid ships flying the flag of the Falkland Islands from docking at certain ports.

William Hague: I have discussed these issues directly with the Chilean, Uruguayan and Brazilian Ministers, and senior officials have spoken to Mercosur diplomats in London and in the region. I also spoke to Foreign Ministers at the Caribbean Forum. Our message has been that political differences over the Falkland Islands cannot justify support for illegal and counterproductive actions which aim to damage the livelihoods of the Falkland Islands' people. We are assured that there is no intention among Argentina's neighbours to participate in such measures.
	We will continue to be vigilant about any further measures designed to damage the Falkland Islands' economy.

Falkland Islands: Sovereignty

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the potential effect on British trade of the decision by Mercosur to forbid ships flying the flag of the Falkland Islands from docking at certain ports.

William Hague: As I stated in my written ministerial statement of 10 January 2012, Official  Report, columns 5-6WS, our priority has been to ensure that trade and commercial links between the Falkland Islands and South America are not compromised by this political declaration. The Governments of Brazil, Chile and Uruguay have confirmed that Falklands-registered vessels flying the Red Ensign, as they are entitled to do, will continue to be assured of access to their ports. There has been no practical impact on the ability of vessels to trade between the Falkland Islands and South America.

Falkland Islands: Sovereignty

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the potential effect of Argentina holding the presidency of Mercosur on British interests in the region.

William Hague: Argentina will be holding the presidency of Mercosur for the first six months of 2012. The UK engages positively with the Mercosur group, including on the mutual benefits of a potential association agreement with the EU and hopes to continue to do so when Argentina holds the Mercosur presidency. However, the Government of Argentina have used such regional groupings to seek political and practical support for their claim to sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. The principle of self-determination is enshrined under the United Nations Charter, and we expect all Mercosur countries to respect this and other international laws when considering the rights of the Falkland Islanders. We do not therefore anticipate that the UK's or Falkland Islands' interests will materially be affected by Argentina's presidency of Mercosur.

Falkland Islands: Sovereignty

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to seek a reversal of the decision taken by Mercosur to forbid ships flying the flag of the Falkland Islands from docking at certain ports.

William Hague: We do not accept that the decision to close ports to ships flying the Falklands flag has any basis in international law. However, as I said in my written ministerial statement of 10 January 2012, Official Report, columns 5-6WS, our priority has been to ensure that trade and commercial links between the Falklands and South America are not compromised by this political declaration. The Governments of Brazil, Chile and Uruguay have confirmed that Falklands-registered vessels flying the Red Ensign, as they are entitled to do, will continue to be assured of access to their ports.

Israel: Politics and Government

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what recent occasions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have raised the issue of continued settlement expansion with Israeli government officials.

William Hague: Continued systematic settlement construction by Israel in disputed territory in the Occupied Palestinian Territory makes it ever harder to achieve the common goal of international efforts: a contiguous state of Palestine side-by-side with a secure Israel, with Jerusalem as a shared capital.
	We regularly raise the issue of settlement expansion with the Israeli authorities. The Prime Minister raised this issue with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on 5 January 2012. The Deputy Prime Minister commented in strong terms on settlement expansion at his joint press conference with Palestinian President Abbas on 16 January 2012.
	I most recently emphasised the importance of Israel doing enough on this and other issues to sustain the prospect for peace talks leading to a two-state solution during my discussion with the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Dan Meridor, on 16 January 2012. During his recent visit to the region on 7-11 January 2012 the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), raised strong concerns over the significant numbers of settlement announcements with the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and the impact these are having on the prospects for a two state solution.

Lesotho

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any plans to visit Lesotho.

Henry Bellingham: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) currently has no plans to visit Lesotho.

Lesotho: Diplomatic Service

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British nationals have requested consular support in Lesotho in each of the last five years.

Henry Bellingham: Four British nationals requested consular assistance in Lesotho in the financial year 2010-11. One British national requested consular assistance in 2009-10 and one in 2008-09. No British nationals have so far requested consular assistance in 2011-12, and there were none in 2007-08. These figures do not include provision of general consular advice or documentary services, which are not recorded.

Lesotho: Foreign Relations

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of bilateral relations with Lesotho; and if he will make a statement.

Henry Bellingham: Britain greatly values our diplomatic relationship with Lesotho which is underpinned by frequent visits from our staff in the British high commission Pretoria who are accredited to Lesotho. I have also met with the Lesotho high commissioner. I look forward to the prospect of successful and peaceful elections in Lesotho later this year.
	We continue to provide around £10 million each year in aid to Lesotho through multilateral shares, debt relief and international non-governmental organisations.

Middle East: Oil

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the potential economic effects of a full-scale oil embargo on Iran.

William Hague: The aim of the EU oil embargo on Iran, agreed at the Foreign Affairs Council on 23 January, is to put pressure on Iran to negotiate seriously with the international community over its nuclear programme. The embargo will come into effect on 1 July. It is already causing consumers of Iranian oil to turn to other producers for supplies. The economic effects of a full-scale embargo are difficult to predict. Much would depend on the availability of alternative sources of oil supply. But the direct effect would be a loss to Iran of its oil revenues.
	The aim of the measure, as with all sanctions, is to increase peaceful pressure on Iran to encourage them to return to the table on the nuclear issue.

Middle East: Peace Negotiations

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of progress made in the Middle East peace process since the Israeli and Palestinian leaders' decision to restart direct bilateral talks.

William Hague: I have welcomed the efforts of King Abdullah of Jordan and Jordanian Foreign Minister, Nasser Judeh, to bring the parties together under the framework of the Quartet statement of 23 September. We call on both sides to take this opportunity and show the political leadership and courage needed to make progress towards a negotiated two-state solution.

Morocco: Overseas Trade

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the monetary value of exports to Morocco was for each category of exports in the last year for which figures are available.

Mark Prisk: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	HMRC's overseas trade statistics show that £527 million of goods were exported to Morocco in 2010. The Office for National Statistics' (ONS) Pink Book shows that the export of services to Morocco in 2010 totalled £137 million. A further breakdown of the exports of goods is shown in the following table. A breakdown of services by type is not published by the ONS.
	
		
			 UK exports of goods to Morocco, 2010 
			  £ million 
			 Food and live animals 21 
			 Beverages and tobacco 12 
			 Crude materials, inedible, except fuels 25 
			 Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials 190 
			 Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes — 
			 Chemicals and related products 55 
			 Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material 50 
			 Machinery and transport equipment 117 
		
	
	
		
			 Miscellaneous manufactured articles 57 
			 Commodities/transactions not elsewhere classified 0 
			 Total 527 
			 Source: BIS analysis of data from HM Revenue and Customs

Somalia: Diplomatic Service

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British nationals have requested consular support in Somalia in each of the last five years.

Henry Bellingham: We advise against all travel to Somalia. There is no British representation in any part of Somalia and we are unable to provide direct consular assistance there. However, through our embassy in Addis Ababa and high commission in Nairobi, we have provided some consular assistance to British nationals who have travelled there. There have been seven consular cases relating to Somalia in the financial year 2011-12. There were 10 cases in 2010-11, two in 2009-10, nine in 2008-09 and one in 2007-08. These figures do not include provision of general consular advice or documentary services, which are not recorded.

Syria: Politics and Government

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contact he has had with his counterpart in Turkey on matters related to Syria in recent weeks.

William Hague: The UK has been at the forefront of efforts in the international community to increase pressure on the Syrian regime to stop the violence. As I said during my statement to the House of Commons on 6 February 2012, Official Report, column 27.
	“I have very regular consultations with the Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, about this matter. Last Tuesday I spoke to him from New York while I was there; that was my most recent consultation with him. Turkey was a co-sponsor of the resolution, and I expect it to be a very active participant in the new informal international grouping that we expect to be formed.”

Syria: Politics and Government

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the potential consequences of a decision by the Arab League to withdraw its observer mission from Syria.

William Hague: The Arab League continues to have the UK's full support in its effort to resolve the crisis in Syria and to bring an end to the violence. Despite the introduction of the Arab League Observer Mission on 26 November the Syrian regime has shown no intention of implementing the Arab League Plan it signed on 2 November 2011. Instead it has continued its brutal repression.
	Despite some limited co-operation by the Syrian Government in response to the Observer Mission I am deeply concerned that the increasing violence in Syria led the Arab League to halt its operations. The current military offensive in Homs highlights the continuing violence by the Assad regime. This is why I travelled to New York on 31 January to support a tough Security Council resolution calling on the Syrian Government to implement the Arab League plan to stop the violence in Syria and for a peaceful political transition to a democratic, plural political system. As I said in my statement on 6 February, The UN Security Council's failure to agree a resolution does not signal the end of our efforts to stop the violence in Syria. We will continue our strong support for the Arab League and seek to widen the international coalition of nations seeking a peaceful and lasting resolution to the crisis in Syria.

Syria: Politics and Government

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the potential effectiveness of Arab League observers in Syria.

William Hague: The Arab League continues to have the UK's full support in its effort to resolve the crisis in Syria and to bring an end to the violence. Despite the introduction of the Arab League Observer Mission on 26 November, the Syrian regime has shown no intention of implementing the Arab League Plan it signed on 2 November 2011. Instead it has continued its brutal repression.
	Despite some limited co-operation by the Syrian Government in response to the Observer Mission, I am deeply concerned that the increasing violence in Syria led the Arab League to halt its operations. The current military offensive in Homs highlights the continuing violence by the Assad regime. This is why I travelled to New York on 31 January to support a tough Security Council resolution calling on the Syrian Government to implement the Arab League plan to stop the violence in Syria and for a peaceful political transition to a democratic, plural political system. As I said in my statement on 6 February 2012, Official  Report, columns 23-25, the UN Security Council's failure to agree a resolution does not signal the end of our efforts to stop the violence in Syria. We will continue our strong support for the Arab League and seek to widen the international coalition of nations seeking a peaceful and lasting resolution to the crisis in Syria.

Syria: Politics and Government

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contact he has had with the head of the Arab League Secretariat on matters related to Syria in recent weeks.

William Hague: Immediately prior to my statement to the House of Commons, 6 February 2012, Official Report, columns 23-25, I spoke to the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Nabil El Araby. I welcomed and encouraged the proposal to appoint a Special Envoy of the Arab League, and I commended the Arab League's leadership and action so far. Arab Foreign Ministers will meet this weekend to consider options. The Secretary-General was clear about the urgency of the situation, the Arab world's continued determination to act, and the need to step up their efforts. I told him that the Arab League would have our complete support.

Syria: Politics and Government

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contacts he has had with counterparts in Russia and China on matters related to Syria in recent weeks.

William Hague: We have daily conversations with Russia and China at the Security Council. I spoke to my Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on 8 February about the situation in Syria. I told him that the UK was appalled by the continued violence, in particular, in Homs and that we wanted an end to violence from all sides in Syria.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Public Service Broadcasters

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what plans he has to increase investment in content by public service broadcasters.

Edward Vaizey: Investment in UK originated content is one of the key pillars of the public service broadcasting system. We shall examine the purpose, obligations and requirements of PSB and consider ways of increasing investment in UK originated content in the communications Green Paper, to be published shortly.

Superfast Broadband

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent progress he has made on the roll-out of superfast broadband to rural communities.

Jeremy Hunt: We have just approved the Local Broadband Plan for Lancashire and Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, so now a third of rural areas have their plans approved. I have set a target for all broadband procurements to be completed by the end of 2012 so that delivery can be complete by 2015. This will extend 2 mbps broadband coverage to the whole country and superfast broadband to 90% of the country.

Arts: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of whether there has been an increase in funding through philanthropy for arts organisations in England since May 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: This Department publishes regular updates on charitable giving received by funded cultural institutions, which can be found on our website at:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/8564.aspx
	In terms of the wider arts sector, patterns of giving can be skewed by major donations and vary enormously from one organisation to another, so we should be cautious about assuming trends over a period of less than two years. However, evolving analysis suggests that individual giving, and support for the arts from trusts and foundations have increased since May 2010. We shall be able to assess this more robustly as more data emerges from Arts and Business’ annual survey of private investment in culture later in the year. I welcome and commend the generosity of all those who give to the arts in this country. Their support deserves our thanks and appreciation.

Arts: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how much funding the Arts Council has allocated to support international cultural exchange through (a) its funded organisations and (b) other activities with (i) China, (ii) India, (iii) Brazil, (iv) the Gulf States, (v) Russia and (vi) Japan; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Vaizey: Arts Council England supports many organisations which work internationally, promoting cultural exchanges and developing markets for their work abroad, including China, India, Brazil, the Gulf States, Russia and Japan among other countries. This year will see particularly strong engagement with China and Brazil through major festivals of UK culture in those countries, as well as during the London 2012 Festival. The Arts Council also works closely with the British Council to ensure UK and international audiences are able to experience the best of British and world culture. It does not ring-fence specific allocations to its funded organisations for individual countries, as activities often involve both domestic and foreign activity in a number of countries. Together with our national museums, Arts Council England funded organisations continue to reinforce the UK's reputation for cultural excellence around the world.

Departmental Contracts

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what contracts of over £1 million in value his Department has let in the last year; and what the shortest period has been between the published opening of the tender for any such contracts and the closing date.

John Penrose: holding answer 7 February 2012
	Broadband UK tendered for supply of legal services in April 2011 to support delivery of the Broadband and related programmes. The cumulative value of this contract will exceed £1 million by the end of the programmes in 2015. The period between the published opening of the tender and closure was four weeks.

Olympic Games 2012

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many letters he has received 
	(1)  on the London 2012 Olympics in the last six months;
	(2)  on the London 2012 Paralympics in the last six months.

Hugh Robertson: The Department received 844 letters in the last six months about matters relating to staging both the Olympic games and Paralympic games in London. This includes nine letters which were specifically about the Paralympic games.

Olympic Games 2012: Human Trafficking

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on progress on measures to prevent human trafficking at the London 2012 Olympics.

Hugh Robertson: Regular Olympic intelligence briefings take place between the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), myself, Home Office Ministers and the Olympic Intelligence Centre, to discuss and review threats to the games, including human trafficking.
	Although there is currently no evidence of an increase in human trafficking linked to the games, the Government are aware of the threat, which is real, and will continue to remain vigilant. If intelligence suggests an increased threat, the Government will ensure that the appropriate measures are in place.

Television: Local Broadcasting

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the number of jobs which his proposals for local television will create in (a) local television stations and (b) Muxco.

Edward Vaizey: The consultations on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport local TV proposals provided broad indications of the numbers of people that might be employed; ranging from 10 to 60 people per local TV station. Regarding the multiplex it is Ofcom's assumption that about three posts will be required to operate it. Ofcom advise commercial radio employs between five and 30 people and community radio stations have on average 78 people involved per station on a paid and voluntary basis full and part-time.

Tourism

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what plans his Department has to review its plans for the National Quality Assessment Scheme in England following the adjudication of the Advertising Standards Authority in respect of complaint reference A11-16687 by Kwikchex Ltd;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to ensure that visitors to the UK are provided with accurate and impartially-assessed information on the standards and quality of tourist accommodation; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  if he will make it his policy to ensure that overseas visitors to all parts of the UK are given the option of accessing information on the quality and standard of tourist accommodation to a standard equivalent to VisitScotland's Quality Assurance scheme.

John Penrose: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave him on 2 February 2011, Official Report, column 819W and 17 March 2011, Official Report, columns 525-26W. Our basic approach has not changed, we want to encourage any scheme that improves the quality of tourist accommodation information available for visitors, particularly when specialist information is required such as accessibility or how ‘green' a provider is. However, a quality-assessed star rating is no longer the only proviso for booking accommodation, and many potential customers now rely on personal feedback on customer review sites. Consumers choose which websites to use based on whether they trust the information they contain. Alternative websites are, of course, always only a click away so we shall see whether the Advertising Standards Board ruling alters consumer views about Tripadvisor or not.
	Until the end of March 2012, the Enjoyengland.com and Visitbritain.com websites will list all star-rated accommodation in England and the UK respectively. From April 2012, VisitEngland ratings will be searchable on:
	http://www.qualityintourism.com
	the official website of the licensee responsible for VisitEngland's quality assessment scheme. The AA has its own website:
	http://www.theAA.com
	where ratings can be checked, as do VisitScotland, Visit Wales and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Many third party commercial websites also choose to display official star ratings and Quality in Tourism and the AA will continue to supply ratings data on a regular basis.

Tourism

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the average expenditure per head by overseas tourists visiting (a) Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency and (b) Cumbria in each of the last five years.

John Penrose: The Department does not record this information but, through the International Passenger Survey, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) record the number of visits made by overseas residents to the UK by county, and the total spend per year. From this information we can estimate the average spend per visit in Cumbria in each of the last five years.
	
		
			 Cumbria 
			  Spend per visit (£) 
			 2006 263.19 
			 2007 310.6 
			 2008 319.9 
			 2009 343.72 
			 2010 298.44 
		
	
	These figures are per visit, not per head. As visits rather than visitors are counted, there is a possibility for double counting if, for example, a person made more than one visit to the same place. The ONS do not provide this information by constituency.
	Further information can be found at the following website:
	http://www.visitbritain.org/insightsandstatistics/inboundvisitorstatistics/regions/towns.aspx

World War I: Anniversaries

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what plans he has to mark the centenary of the start of the First World War.

Edward Vaizey: The Prime Minister has asked my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison) to act as his special representative and co-ordinator for world war one commemorations and this Department has been appointed to be the lead Department in supporting him. Dr Murrison will work with international and national partners to ensure that the UK plays a full and active role; and will co-ordinate the cross-Whitehall effort in respect of the commemorations. Announcements about the centenary will be made in due course.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Thailand: Burma

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans he has for funding food and shelter for refugees in camps on the Thailand Burma border in each of the next three years.

Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) is in the process of reviewing its last three years' programme of assistance to refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) along the Thailand-Burma border, including support for the provision of food and shelter for refugees in camps on the border. This review will inform the nature of future support to refugees on the Thailand-Burma border, to which I remain strongly committed. Following the Bilateral Aid Review I agreed to a doubling of the overall British aid budget to Burma.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Crows

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions Natural England has had with the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and Countryside Alliance on the control of crows.

James Paice: Natural England has been involved in discussions with the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) since November 2011 regarding the legal status of controlling hooded and carrion crows under the general licences that Natural England issues. These discussions are ongoing.
	Natural England has had no recent discussions with the Countryside Alliance on crows.
	Natural England invited key stakeholders including BASC and the Countryside Alliance for views on its general licences in February 2011 and later this year it will launch a full public consultation on a series of new proposals. One proposal will consider whether or not the hooded crow should be added to the general licences which allow certain protected bird species, such as the carrion crow, magpie and rook, to be controlled where they are causing problems to prevent, for example, predation and crop damage problems.

Departmental Billing

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of her Department's invoices from its private sector suppliers were paid (a) within 14 days, (b) between 15 and 30 days, (c) between 31 and 60 days, (d) between 61 and 90 days and (e) more than 90 days after receipt in the last 12 months.

Richard Benyon: 15,923, or 99.97% of invoices were paid within 14 days of receipt of a valid invoice. Five, or 0.03% of invoices were paid between 14 and 30 days of receipt of a valid invoice. No invoices were paid more than 30 days after receipt.
	This information includes invoices which fall under the prompt payment directive (private sector suppliers only) and relates to 2011.

Departmental Correspondence

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average time taken was by her Department to reply to correspondence from hon. Members and Peers in the last 12 months; and for what proportion of letters it took longer than (a) one month, (b) six weeks, (c) two months, (d) three months and (e) six months for a response to be sent in that period.

Richard Benyon: In 2011 DEFRA replied to 80% of correspondence from Members and Peers within our target of 15 working days. The average time for reply was 12 days.
	The percentages requested are given in the following table.
	
		
			 Time to respond Percentage (1) 
			 Within 15 working days 80 
			 Over 15 working days but less than a month 11 
			 One month to six weeks 5 
			 Six weeks to two months 3 
			 Two months to three months 1 
			 Three to six months 0.6 
			 Longer than six months 0.1 
			 (1 )Figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number except for percentages below 1%, which are given to one decimal place.

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was paid to officials in her Department and its non-departmental public bodies in (a) bonuses, (b) allowances and (c) other payments additional to basic salary in each of the last two years for which figures are available; what categories of payment may be made to officials in addition to basic salary; what the monetary value is of each category of payment; and what the monetary value was of the 20 largest such payments made in each of the last two years.

Richard Benyon: I will place this information in the Library of the House.

Fisheries: EU Countries

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which EU member states have offered additional Western Water scallop effort to the UK in exchange for other species; and when the Marine Management Organisation first discussed this matter with each such member state.

Richard Benyon: The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) was first requested by DEFRA, on behalf of UK fisheries administrations, to start investigating such exchanges for the calendar year 2011 at the beginning of August 2011. This was after advice had been received that there was insufficient scientific evidence available to support making a request to the European Commission for an increase in level of such effort available to the UK fleet under the regime, and that such exchanges were needed.
	As the quotas that could be used in such exchanges had already been allocated to industry groups, the MMO organised a meeting between officials from all UK fisheries administrations with representatives from the scallops sector to identify potential sources of quota. After this meeting, analyses were made of the levels of uptake by other member states to identify possible sources of extra effort available to transfer to the UK along with possible needs for quota. The dates of initial contacts with member states were as follows:
	Spain: 31 August 2011
	France: 13 September 2011
	The Netherlands: 21 September 2011
	Ireland: 3 October 2011
	Belgium: 20 January 2012.
	These were only the first contacts made with regards to exchanges, and not all of these contacts resulted in exchanges being made. Those exchanges agreed have been submitted to the European Commission for review, approval and incorporation into the EU monitoring systems. Once this process has been completed, the MMO will be releasing further details of the exchanges that have taken place related to the calendar year 2011.

Fishing Vessels

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many Scottish owned fishing boats are registered in England; and what proportion of the UK fishing quota such registrations represent;
	(2)  what proportion of licensed fishing boats are registered in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland;
	(3)  how many Scottish owned fishing boats have quotas set by (a) English and (b) Northern Irish producer organisations;
	(4)  what estimate she has made of the number of licensed fishing boats in the UK.

Richard Benyon: As of 1 January 2012, there were 6,446 UK registered and licensed fishing vessels, including vessels registered to a port within the Island Crown Dependencies (Isle of Man and Channel Islands). Of these, 45% were registered to a port in England, 34% to a port in Scotland, 8% to a port in Wales and 6% to a port in Northern Ireland.
	It is not possible to attribute the ownership of vessels to individual nationalities in the way requested. However, looking at the port of administration provides a close approximation. On this basis, as of 1 January 2012 there were 2,094 vessels of all lengths based at a port in Scotland. Of these, 62 were members of English producer organisations and 11 members of Northern Irish producer organisations.
	144 of these 2,094 vessels were registered to a port in England—111 vessels of 10 metres and under in length, and 33 vessels over 10 metres. As an estimate of the share of UK fishing quotas involved, the number of fixed quota allocation units linked to the 33 over 10 metre vessels involved represents 0.6% of the total number of units allocated to individual UK vessels. This does not include units that might be held collectively by producer organisations on behalf of their members. It is not possible to estimate the share of UK quota held by the under 10 metre vessels as these vessels do not usually have quota allocations units associated with them.

Flood Control: Finance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the cost to the public purse was of flood prevention work in each region in each of the last 13 years; and how much will be spent in each of the next five years.

Richard Benyon: The following table sets out public spending on flood and coastal erosion risk management in England from 1996-97 to 2014-15 by central and local government.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  Central Government spending Local government spending Total 
			 1996-97 101.9 205.2 307.1 
			 1997-98 87.1 223.3 310.4 
			 1998-99 78.3 233.2 311.5 
			 1999-2000 75.5 246.6 322.1 
			 2000-01 71.4 262.7 334.1 
			 2001-02 84.7 281.4 366.1 
			 2002-03 128.4 299.4 427.8 
			 2003-04 135.5 322 457.5 
			 2004-05 415.4 80.3 495.7 
			 2005-06 514.8 84.4 599.2 
			 2006-07 505.2 84.5 589.7 
			 2007-08 456.7 90.0 546.7 
			 2008-09 568.2 90.0 658.2 
			 2009-10 627.9 94.6 722.5 
			 2010-11 664.1 97.4 761.5 
		
	
	
		
			 2011-12 550.2 — — 
			 2012-13 554.6 — — 
			 2013-14 542.1 — — 
			 2014-15 529.6 — — 
		
	
	Central Government expenditure includes DEFRA's own direct expenditure, DEFRA grants to the Environment Agency, plus capital grants to individual local authorities and internal drainage boards.
	From 2004-05 block grant from DEFRA to the Environment Agency largely replaced the previous system of central Government grants to individual local authorities. This accounts for the large shifts in figures between 2003-04 and 2004-05 between central and local government.
	Local government expenditure in recent years has been supported by grants from the Department for Communities and Local Government. The funding provided is unringfenced and unhypothecated; it is therefore not possible to state how much funding has been provided for any particular activity or outcome. For this reason the local authority spending figures above rely on outturn data, which are not yet available for the period 2011-12 to 2014-15.
	Spending beyond 2014-15 will be the subject of future Government spending reviews.
	Within the grants provided by DEFRA to the Environment Agency, supplemented by other income the Environment Agency may receive, the allocation of funding by the Environment Agency to each of the Regional Flood and Coastal Committee areas since 2006-07 is given in the following table. Records prior to this are not held centrally, as allocations were administered at a regional level.
	The regional funding allocation for 2012-13 is subject to agreement by the Environment Agency Board in early February 2012. The board is also expected to agree indicative allocations for the years 2013-14 and 2014-15 at the same time. Details will be available on the Environment Agency website in due course.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  Allocation 
			  2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 
			 Environment agency Total Capital Resource Total Capital Resource Total 
			 Anglian (Central) RFCC (1)107.4 8.1 11.1 19.2 8 10 18 
			 Anglian (Northern) RFCC (1)— 14.4 14.2 28.6 23.7 13.4 37.1 
			 Anglian (Eastern) RFCC (1)— 15.5 14.6 30.1 46.4 14.7 61.1 
			 Midlands RFCC 56.2 16.6 28.9 45.5 17.1 22.5 39.6 
			 Northumbria RFCC (1)47.8 4.2 5.7 9.9 3.3 5.4 8.7 
			 Yorkshire RFCC (1)— 15.7 18.6 34.3 25.1 17.7 42.8 
			 North West RFCC 39.5 15.5 27.7 43.2 17 24 41 
			 South West RFCC (1)51.1 15.3 11.3 26.6 6.1 8.9 15 
			 Wessex RFCC (1)— 7.3 17.9 25.2 11.5 16.9 28.4 
			 Southern RFCC 48.3 24.6 26.5 51.1 25.9 26.9 52.8 
			 Thames RFCC 77.1 21.1 48.1 69.2 31 44.9 75.9 
		
	
	
		
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Environment agency Capital Resource Total Capital Resource Total Capital Resource Total 
			 Anglian (Central) RFCC 9.4 9.1 18.5 14.8 9.1 23.9 8.6 6.5 15.1 
			 Anglian (Northern) RFCC 26.2 12.8 39 28.8 15.2 44 32.1 12 44.1 
			 Anglian (Eastern) RFCC 28.1 14.3 42.4 223 14.6 36.9 12.9 10.7 23.6 
			 Midlands RFCC 30.1 21.9 52 32.4 24.1 56.5 25.1 19.7 44.8 
			 Northumbria RFCC 4.2 5.5 9.7 8.9 5.6 14.5 16.9 4.1 21 
			 Yorkshire RFCC 37.5 17.7 55.2 33.9 19 52.9 16.9 13.3 30.2 
			 North West RFCC 26.7 24.1 50.8 29.4 25.4 54.8 18.3 18.7 37 
			 South West RFCC 7.8 8.9 16.7 10.1 9.7 19.8 7.7 7 14.7 
			 Wessex RFCC 10.7 17.1 27.8 9.6 18.3 27.9 6.3 12.9 19.2 
			 Southern RFCC 38.7 26.8 65.5. 37.3 27.6 64.9 22.7 18.5 41.2 
			 Thames RFCC 40 45.3 85.3 52.3 79 131.3 35.5 35.4 70.9

Floods

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people lived in a high flood risk area in each of the last 13 years; and how many are predicted to live in a high flood risk area in each of the next five years.

Richard Benyon: The following table lists the number of properties in areas of significant flood risk (one in 75 (1.3%) or greater chance of being flooded in any given year) in each year since 2004 for which figures are available from the Environment Agency's National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA).The NaFRA results for 2010-11 will be published in February 2012.
	
		
			 Year of assessment Date of publication Total number of properties in areas of significant risk (England and Wales) Of which, residential properties in areas of significant risk (England and Wales) 
			 2004 December 2004 373,000 — 
			 2005 December 2005 569,000 — 
			 2006 January 2007 517,000 432,000 
			 2007 No update — — 
			 2008 August 2009 578,000 373,000 
			 2009 August 2010 561,000 358,000 
			 Note: The Environment Agency first started to provide a separate analysis for residential and non-residential properties at flood risk in 2006. 
		
	
	The Environment Agency's method for assessing flood risk dates from 2002 with the first results published in 2004. Newly completed defences are taken into consideration in the assessment on a quarterly basis.
	Since the original assessment, the risk in different areas of England and Wales will have changed because of a change in climate or newly constructed or improved flood defences. However, both the data and methods used to produce the assessment have also substantially improved over this period of time so it is not possible for the figures to be used as part of a consistent year-on-year analysis of how flood risk has changed.
	Continual improvements to the data and methods in the assessment also make it difficult to produce a meaningful year-on-year projection. The Environment Agency can, however, identify specific areas (such as in the Vale of Clwyd) where the risk is likely to reduce because of, for example, a newly completed defence.

Floods: Insurance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  when she plans to announce the replacement of the Statement of Principles cover for homes in high flood risk areas;
	(2)  what discussions she has had with (a) ABI and (b) hon. Members on co-operation between the public and private sectors on flood risk insurance;
	(3)  how much her Department has spent on subsidising insurance premiums for residents in high flood risk areas in each of the last 13 years; and how much will be spent in each of the next five years.

Richard Benyon: The current Statement of Principles has not guaranteed that all those at risk of flooding will be able to insure their properties; nor does the Statement of Principles make any guarantees about the price of flood cover, which remains a commercial decision for insurers.
	The last agreement, signed in 2008 by the previous Government, was always intended to be the last and insurers do not want to renew it beyond its expiry on 30 June 2013. A new shared understanding is being developed that will set out more clearly what individual customers can expect from their insurer, and from the Government.
	The Government have had regular discussions with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) regarding the future of flood insurance. We will continue to meet regularly with ABI as we consider options over the winter months, with the aim of making further announcements in the spring, including details on how any future flood insurance solution might be funded. I have also corresponded with numerous Members of Parliament on the matter.
	The Government remain committed to making sure flood insurance remains widely available. We are working closely with insurers, the devolved Administrations and communities affected by flood risk, and are especially mindful of those on lower incomes living with the risk of flooding. The Government have not subsidised flood insurance premiums in any of the past 13 years, but we continue to invest to reduce the risk of flooding and are committed to spend at least £2.17 billion on flood and coastal erosion risk management over the next four years.

Food

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will prepare and publish on her Department's website a league table of Government Departments in respect of the proportion of food sourced (a) from UK producers, (b) from UK fisheries and (c) to Government buying standards.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA does not intend to prepare reports on the performance of Government Departments in respect of Government Buying Standards or of food or fish sourced from UK producers. Such a report was attempted previously under the Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative (PSFPI) and proved to be of little value as they did not compare like with like and gave a false picture of catering provision within Government Departments.
	Departments have agreed to apply the Government Buying Standards as a minimum and mandatory level of sustainability for the food procured under their catering contracts. They are encouraged to follow the Government's principles of transparency in reporting, in a proportionate way and at reasonable intervals, their performance against these standards.

Milk: Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Welsh Government on exclusive milk contracts.

James Paice: DEFRA officials have worked closely with their colleagues in the Welsh Assembly in formulating the UK's policy position during the negotiation of the Commission Dairy Package, which sets out rules on contractual relations in the milk and milk products sector. This collaboration will continue as we consider how the Dairy Package should be implemented across the UK.

Ofwat: Pay

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment she has made of the salary structures of (a) the chief executive and (b) other senior management of Ofwat in respect of the criteria by which they receive bonuses;
	(2)  under what criteria the chief executive of Ofwat receives a bonus additional to her annual salary; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: The remuneration and bonus scheme for the chief executive and members of the Ofwat executive team are set in an appropriate and transparent manner in line with arrangements for other members of the senior civil service (SCS). This means that they are all paid at SCS pay bands 1 (from £58,200 to £117,800) or 2 (£82,900 or £162,500).
	The arrangements for pay and bonuses are set out in the senior teams' contracts and subject to annual review by the Ofwat Remuneration Committee in line with awards recommended by the Senior Salaries Review Body. Each permanent member of the executive team participates in a bonus scheme, which is also in line with the Senior Salaries Review Body recommendations. The non-consolidated and non-pensionable bonus is paid on the individual's performance and is only awarded to the top 25% of SCS performers. Bonuses are also capped at £10,000 for pay band 1 and £12,500 for pay band 2.
	The remuneration and bonuses of the Ofwat executive team are published in Ofwat's annual report and accounts, which are audited and laid before Parliament each year. These details are also published on the Ofwat website.

Stray Dogs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of the operation of Section 68 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.

Richard Benyon: The effectiveness of Section 68 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 is currently being reviewed.

UN Conference on Sustainable Development

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has for further roundtable events with businesses in preparation for the Rio+20 Summit in June; and on what dates those events will be.

Richard Benyon: Engagement with businesses is an essential aspect of the Government's preparations for Rio+20. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has held a number of meetings with business and civil society groups about this, and plans to hold a further meeting on 9 February 2012. She intends to meet again with key representatives from both the business and civil society communities before the Conference in June.

Water

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the measures set out in the Water for Life White Paper.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA intends to publish a draft Water Bill in the coming months, to bring forward those legislative proposals set out in “Water for Life” which are not included in the Water Industry (Financial Assistance) Bill currently before Parliament.

Water Charges

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with representatives of (a) Ofwat and (b) water companies on the cost of water and sewerage services in the next financial year.

Richard Benyon: As Ministers with responsibility for policy on water, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), and I meet representatives of Ofwat and water companies regularly.
	Water companies are obliged to submit their planned price adjustments to Ofwat for approval each year. This is ahead of the water companies confirming the rises to their customers. As the regulator for the water industry, Ofwat, having set price limits on a five-yearly basis, challenges companies' proposed bill rises and approves each company's charges scheme.
	The most recent price review was in 2009 and this set price limits at 0.5% above inflation to allow companies to make the necessary investment to secure water supplies and infrastructure. The next price review will be in 2014 and will cover price limits from 2015 to 2020.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Aluminium

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the economic viability of the UK aluminium industry; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 7 February 2012
	We have made no such assessment. Aluminium is a globally traded commodity with prices set on the London Metal Exchange. Current depressed market conditions have impacted on the global price of metals, including aluminium, which in turn has created a difficult commercial environment for the UK aluminium industry.
	The Government recognise that the aluminium industry plays an important role in the manufacturing supply chain with high technology industries like aerospace, automotive and construction requiring high value—continually improving—aluminium products. The Government are taking action to support manufacturing, including the aluminium industry, through their encouragement of higher levels of innovation, exports, business investment and technical skills as well as cutting excessive red tape.
	In addition, UK Trade & Investment has a programme of support for the UK manufacturing sector, including materials, in partnership with numerous stakeholders. This includes organising UK groups at overseas trade shows, leading targeted trade missions and bringing potential buyers, investors and decision-makers to the UK to see our manufacturing capability first-hand.

Apprentices

Sajid Javid: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many employers in Bromsgrove constituency have received payments to take on their first young apprentice under the Government's incentive scheme since its inception.

John Hayes: No employers have yet received any payments under this initiative. The Prime Minister announced that from 7 February the incentive scheme would be live, with small employers new to the programme advertising vacancies, and able to take on apprentices. Employers taking on an apprentice under the scheme receive the payment in two instalments, with the first due two months after the apprentice starts. We therefore expect the first payments to be made in April.

Apprentices: Special Educational Needs

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what recent discussions he has had with the National Apprenticeship Service on increasing the number of people with (a) special educational needs and (b) autism who undertake an apprenticeship;
	(2)  what plans he has to increase the number of people with (a) special educational needs and (b) autism who undertake an apprenticeship.

John Hayes: The National Apprenticeship Service is committed to increasing the number of people with learning difficulties or disabilities undertaking apprenticeships. It is currently running a number of pilots to explore ways to increase diversity within apprenticeships and this includes apprentices reporting a range of disabilities. The National Apprenticeship Service regularly reports to me on the progress of the pilots and we will discuss how to implement recommendations once I have seen the final report in March.
	I recently commissioned an independent report on “Creating an Inclusive Apprenticeship Offer”. Evidence from the report shows a steady rise in the number of apprentices declaring a disability over the last five years. However the rise is not as great as the rise in overall apprenticeship numbers. I will consider each of the report's recommendations, and will work with the National Apprenticeship Service and other partners to ensure employers are given good information and advice about recruiting and managing apprentices with disabilities and that people with disabilities get the help and support they need to secure an apprenticeship place and to be successful in that apprenticeship.
	I have met with a number of groups concerned with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and autism and will continue to seek their views on how to improve accessibility and inclusion within the apprenticeship programme.

Basic Skills

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what change there has been in adult (a) literacy and (b) numeracy rates in each region in the last 25 years.

John Hayes: Data on changes in adult literacy and numeracy by region over the last 25 years are not available. The last published analysis of regional-level literacy and numeracy levels was the 2003 Skills for Life survey(1). This survey showed the following literacy and numeracy distributions among the adult population of England, aged between 16 and 65, broken down by Government office region (see tables 1 and 2 as follows). The results were based on fieldwork conducted between July 2002 and April 2003.
	The Government have recently undertaken a follow-up survey to the 2003 Skills for Life study, which examines changes in adult literacy and numeracy between 2003 and 2011. The headline findings of this survey, covering national level changes in literacy and numeracy were published in December 2011(2). The full 2011 Skills for Life survey report will include analysis of regional changes in literacy and numeracy over the past eight years. This report is due to be published in spring 2012.
	(1 )Williams, J., S. Clemens, S. Oleinikova, and K. Tarvin (2003) “The Skills for Life Survey: a National Needs and Impact Survey of Literacy, Numeracy and ICT skills”. Department for Education and Skills Research Report 490, available online at:
	https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrdering Download/RR490.pdf
	accessed on 18 November 2011.
	(2) TNS-BMRB and AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd. (November 2011) “2011 Skills for Life survey: headline findings”, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, BIS research paper 57. Available online at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/further-education-skills/docs/0-9/11-1367-2011-skills-for-life-survey-findings.pdf
	accessed on 18 January 2011.
	
		
			 Table 1: Literacy level by region in 20 03 (3) 
			 Skill level  Regions 
			  Total North East London Yorks & Humber West Midlands North West East Mid land s South West East of England South East 
			 Base 7,874 881 862 883 857 880 761 879 749 1,122 
			 Entry Level 1 or below 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 
			 Entry Level 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 1 
			 Entry Level 3 11 14 13 13 11 12 10 9 9 8 
			 Level 1 40 41 34 42 42 42 41 40 40 37 
			 Level 2 or above 44 37 46 39 41 41 43 46 47 51 
			 Note: Base: all respondents with literacy scores 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Numeracy level by region in 2003 (3) 
			 Skill level  Regions 
			  Total North East Yorks & Humber North West East Midlands South West London West Midlands East of England South East 
			 Base 8,040 898 923 895 785 889 881 865 766 1,138 
			 Entry Level 1 or below 5 6 6 6 6 5 6 6 4 4 
			 Entry Level 2 16 22 17 19 16 16 17 16 13 12 
			 Entry Level 3 25 27 28 24 27 28 25 25 25 24 
			 Level 1 28 24 28 28 27 29 26 29 28 27 
			 Level 2 or above 25 21 21 23 23 23 25 24 30 32 
			 Note: Base: all respondents with numeracy scores 
		
	
	(3) Both tables are included in the 2003 Skills for Life survey as tables 3.A1 and 3.A2 on page 178.

Business: Lancashire

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department plans to make funding available for businesses in Heysham to upgrade their premises following the planned expansion of the port of Heysham.

Mark Prisk: The expansion of the Port of Heysham is being proposed by the port owners, Peel Ports. The Government's go-ahead for the Heysham-M6 link road will improve access to and from the port increasing the viability of this proposed development. The Lancashire local enterprise partnership has also been awarded £13,092,450 Growing Places funding to support infrastructure investments.
	In terms of business support details of all Government support available to businesses can be found on:
	www.businesslink.gov.uk

Business: North West

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what (a) financial and (b) other support the North West Regional Development Agency provided to businesses in Rossendale and Darwen constituency in the last three years; and what changes he expects to the provision of such assistance after the transition to local enterprise partnerships and other successor bodies.

Mark Prisk: The Department allocated budgets to regional development agencies (RDAs). RDAs determined which projects to support, subject to the terms of the accountability and financial framework. RDAs investments have been guided by the regional economic strategy and their corporate plans. The Department does not hold details of individual projects supported by the RDAs within their delegated financial authorities.
	There is no transition to local enterprise partnerships. They are not replacements for RDAs, but are business-led partnerships that bring business and civic leaders together to drive sustainable economic growth and create the conditions for private sector job growth in their communities. Rossendale and Darwen are part of the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership and information on their priorities can be found at
	http://www.lancashirelep.co.uk

Business: Regulation

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  which (a) Ministers and (b) officials were present at the Red Tape Challenge meeting held on 12 January 2012; and what matters were discussed;
	(2)  on what dates (a) Ministers and (b) officials have met to discuss environmental regulations as part of the Red Tape Challenge.

Mark Prisk: As part of the Red Tape Challenge process, Ministers and officials meet regularly to discuss the proposals for each theme. The process is explained on the Red Tape Challenge website at:
	http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/how-it-works
	The Environment theme has been open for comment on the website since April 2011, with a ‘spotlight' period in September 2011. The Government expect to announce their plans by the end of March 2012. Meetings have taken place throughout this time period.
	There are no plans to remove important environmental protections or climate change commitments. Our aim is to make sure that our environmental policies are being implemented in the most effective ways possible and that, in order to comply with our regulations, businesses and individuals are not over-burdened by rules that make it more difficult to comply than is really necessary.

Business: Standards

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to page nine of the Plan for Growth, published in March 2011, what progress he has made in benchmarking of the UK against best practice around the world; if he will publish benchmarks carried out; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 6 February 2012
	Government Departments' Quarterly Data Summaries report on UK performance against relevant international indicators. For example, the Summary for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills includes indicators from the World Bank Doing Business Report and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
	The Government are committed to creating the right conditions for businesses to succeed, removing barriers that are preventing them from performing to their full potential. The Plan for Growth and the 2011 autumn statement set out a wide-ranging package of more than 280 measures to build a stronger and more balanced economy. These measures are currently being implemented.

Business: Taxation

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will discuss with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the possibility of using communications between HM Revenue and Customs and business taxpayers as a vehicle for conveying advice and support from his Department to businesses.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 7 February 2012
	We are already working closely with HM Revenue and Customs to improve Government communications with business and we will continue to do so.

Companies: Manpower

Chris Skidmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many companies in each region employed more than (a) 50, (b) 100 and (c) 250 employees in 2010-11.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many companies in each region employed more than (a) 50, (b) 100 and (c) 250 employees in 2010-11.
	Annual statistics on the number of enterprises are available from the ONS release; UK Business: Activity, Size and Location at
	www.statistics.gov.uk
	These estimates relate to the count of live businesses in March of each year.
	The table below provides estimates for the number of companies in each region that employed more than (a) 50, (b) 100 and (c) 250 employees in 2010-11.
	
		
			 Count of enterprises by region and employee size band for 2010 and 2011 
			  Employee s ize band 
			  50-99 100-249 250+ Total 
			  2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011 
			 North East 590 560 315 320 195 185 1,095 1,065 
			 North West 1,920 1,920 1,020 1,010 605 585 3,545 3,515 
			 Yorkshire and The Humber 1,510 1,480 775 765 455 450 2,740 2,700 
			 East Midlands 1,350 1,295 720 705 370 390 2,440 2,390 
			 West Midlands 1,525 1,500 780 775 500 495 2,805 2,770 
			 East 1,735 1,730 865 855 620 595 3,220 3,180 
			 London 2,735 2,825 1,595 1,600 1,270 1,265 5,600 5,690 
			 South East 2,525 2,565 1,400 1,370 980 975 4,905 4,910 
			 South West 1,385 1,410 695 710 395 400 2,475 2,515 
		
	
	
		
			 Wales 700 675 335 360 180 175 1,215 1,210 
			 Scotland 1,350 1,305 755 775 430 435 2,540 2,515 
			 Northern Ireland 515 500 265 235 125 125 905 860 
			 Total 17,840 17,765 9,520 9,480 6,125 6,075 33,485 33,320

Company Accounts

Anne-Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate has he made of the number of micro-entities in the UK.

Mark Prisk: The current definition of a micro-business is fewer than 10 employees. There are a total of 4,332,565 micro-businesses in the UK. This represents 95% of all UK businesses, out of a total of 4,542,765.
	Source:
	BIS Population Estimates 2011

Construction: Olympic Games 2012

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of the completion of the building of infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympics on levels of employment in the construction industry; and if he will take steps to mitigate any potential increase in unemployment by boosting orders in the construction industry.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 7 February 2012
	There are no data available on the effect on employment of completion of the Olympic build. What I can say is that the Olympics is a world-class project delivered well ahead of schedule and to budget and is the envy of the world's construction industry.
	Over 46,000 people worked on the build of the park and the village between 2008 and 2011. The peak workforce was around 12,000 people during March 2011. Many contractors brought their existing workforce to work on the park and used 450 apprentices across 27 trades. The Olympic Delivery Authority opened a National Skills Academy for construction which provided 3,500 training places for local people and Londoners to help deliver the venues and infrastructure.
	The Government have taken steps to protect capital investment in construction by giving approval for major projects in new high value road, regional and local transport schemes, including over £14 billion to Network Rail; providing funding to Cross Rail; spending £6 billion on upgrades and maintenance on London Underground; and providing £860 million to support households and business investing in renewable heat measures.

Counterfeit Manufacturing: Trade Agreements

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will reconsider his policy on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the light of the resignation of and comments made by Kader Arif, European Rapporteur for ACTA.

Norman Lamb: The UK has supported the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) from the outset and continues to support the agreement. Kader Arif, European Rapporteur for ACTA, made comments that there was
	“no consultation of the civil society”
	and
	“lack of transparency since the beginning of negotiations”.
	It is normal for international negotiations to be confidential but there are clear rules on how the Members of the European Parliament should be informed and these have been followed. The European Commission also organised four stakeholder conferences and the Intellectual Property Office held a number of stakeholder meetings during the ACTA negotiations. The range of stakeholders included business, internet service providers and consumer interest and open rights groups.

Counterfeit Manufacturing: Trade Agreements

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the extent to which the concerns of the European Parliament on the transparency and status of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiation expressed in its resolution of 10 March 2010 have been addressed.

Norman Lamb: The rules on how the Members of the European Parliament should be informed about international negotiations have been followed. Members of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade have had access to successive versions of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) text. The full text has been fully public since April 2010. The European Commission also organised four stakeholder conferences and the Intellectual Property Office held a number of stakeholder meetings during the ACTA negotiations. The range of stakeholders included business, internet service providers and consumer interest and open rights groups.
	The final ACTA text has been reviewed by government lawyers and the European Commission Legal Services who confirm that ACTA will not create new intellectual property rights, laws or criminal offences in the UK or EU. As such, the agreement does not affect the protection of fundamental rights, privacy or data protection and it respects the important role of the internet.

Counterfeit Manufacturing: Trade Agreements

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the 40th Report from the European Scrutiny Committee, HC 428-xxxv, if he will assess the level of scrutiny in the House of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.

Norman Lamb: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills fully followed the EU scrutiny process with respect to the Draft Council Decisions on the conclusion and signing of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The European Scrutiny Committee felt that these did not raise questions of sufficient legal or political importance to warrant a substantive report to the House.

European Fighter Aircraft

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what assistance his Department has provided to BAeSystems to help them with securing Typhoon export deals;
	(2)  how many meetings he has had with his German counterpart to discuss the possibility of selling Typhoon to the Indian Air Force; and what specific topics were discussed at those meetings.

Mark Prisk: UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation has worked closely with BAeSystems over a number of years to assist them with Typhoon export campaigns. The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), and other Ministers, have met representatives of the company on numerous occasions, and have discussed Typhoon export opportunities with counterparts in other nations.
	The Secretary of State has not met with his German counterpart to discuss selling Typhoon to the Indian Air Force. However, there have been a number of meetings to discuss the German led campaign to promote Typhoon to the Indian Government, and how to progress that, between officials of this Government and their counterparts in Germany, as well as Ministers in other Departments.

European Fighter Aircraft

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the likely effect on unemployment of the decision of the Indian Government not to buy the Eurofighter.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 7 February 2012
	While the Indian Government have selected Rafale as the preferred bidder for their combat aircraft requirement and have asked them to enter into further negotiations, they have not taken a final decision. No assessment has been made of the likely effect on unemployment of a decision not to buy Eurofighter.

Fireworks: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 2 November 2011, Official Report, column 641W, on fireworks, whether he plans to meet (a) the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and (b) other animal welfare organisations to discuss the sale of fireworks.

Norman Lamb: I currently have no plans to meet the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, nor other welfare organisations, to discuss the sale of fireworks.

Firth of Forth: Bridges

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with Ministers in the Scottish Government on the effect on the steel industry of the Forth Replacement Crossing.

Mark Prisk: There have been no such discussions. The Forth Replacement Crossing procurement is a devolved matter for the Scottish Government.

Flexible Working

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects to publish the Government's response to the Modern Workplaces consultation.

Norman Lamb: The Government expect to publish the response to the Modern Workplaces consultation in the spring of 2012.

Foreign Companies: EU Countries

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to encourage European businesses to expand their activities within the UK.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 7 February 2012
	To encourage investment into the UK, from Europe and elsewhere, the Government continue to focus on ensuring that the UK offers investors a globally competitive business environment for them to grow their business. This includes: creating the most competitive tax system in the G20 by cutting the main rate of corporation tax from 28% to 26% in April 2011 and to 23% by 2014—the lowest rate in the G7 and fifth lowest in the G20, and making the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business by focusing on reducing the regulatory burden on business.
	The UK also has a dedicated support service for companies looking to invest in this country—the Inward Investment Services Network. This service, delivered by United Kingdom Trade & Investment (UKTI), offers individually tailored support, and a single point of contact, for overseas businesses wanting to establish or expand their operations here.

Green Deal Scheme

Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many meetings he has had with members of the insulation industry on the (a) Green Deal and (b) Energy Company Obligation.

Mark Prisk: The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), regularly meets with representatives of a wide range of construction industry organisations at the Strategic Forum for Construction, and through my co-chairing of the Green Construction Board, both of which have discussed the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO). In light of the new evidence emerging during the consultation period for the Green Deal and ECO, I have scheduled an additional meeting with insulation industry representatives to hear their views directly.

Higher Education

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to take to enable student representatives to sit on the board of private providers who are granted degree awarding powers.

David Willetts: All providers of higher education, whatever their legal structure, are autonomous, independent organisations. As such they are responsible for determining their own arrangements for ensuring that students are effectively represented.
	Student representation on boards is not one of the criteria required to be met for the granting of degree awarding powers.
	We do recognise the value of effective student representation and the role which students' unions play in facilitating partnerships between higher education institutions and their students. This was highlighted in the Higher Education White Paper, alongside a number of measures designed to encourage greater student engagement. For example, question and answer (QAA) review teams now include student representatives and we endorse the use of student charters, which are jointly agreed by institutions and students' unions.

Higher Education: Applications

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications had been submitted from home students through UCAS by 15 January 2012 to (a) Russell Group universities, (b) 1994 Group universities and (c) all other higher education institutions; and how many such applications had been submitted by the equivalent date in the previous admissions cycle.

David Willetts: The information, provided by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Applications (1)  by UK domiciled applicants as at 15 January 2012 
			  Year of entry 
			  2011 (2) 2012 (3) 
			 Applications to:   
			 Russell Group institutions 488,972 456,619 
			 1994 Group institutions 239,663 226,297 
			 Other institutions 1,481,676 1,345,468 
			 Total 2,210,311 2,028,384 
			 (1) Each applicant can submit up to five applications, or up to four if applying for medical, dentistry and veterinary science courses. (2 )Applicants applying to enter courses starting in autumn 2011, including those who applied for deferred entry in 2012. (3 )Applicants applying to enter courses starting in autumn 2012, including those who applied for deferred entry in 2013.

Manufacturing Industries: Greater London

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to support manufacturing firms in South East London.

Mark Prisk: The Regional Growth Fund (RGFs) (£2.4 billion) is a national fund which although focused on areas which are heavily dependent on the public sector can support particularly strong proposals from London. Two RGF programmes run by HSBC and RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may be attractive to SMEs, including in manufacturing, as the funding is tied to the purchase of capital assets eg machinery.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) officials meet regularly with manufacturing interests including the new Thames Gateway Manufacturing Alliance (which covers south east London and met recently at the Coca Cola plant in Sidcup) and Made in London, EEF (The Engineering Employers Federation the manufacturers—organisation, and SEMTA (Sector) Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies), with a view to encouraging networking and working together across the sector to improve the image of manufacturing, to offer more apprenticeships and to access appropriate funding eg to tackle skills shortage issues.
	We are also encouraging the participation of local manufacturing firms in the new Make it in Britain campaign and hope they will be able to feature strongly in the showcasing of British manufacturing over the summer.
	SME manufacturing businesses in South East London can take advantage of our new streamlined Solutions for Business portfolio: eligible companies can gain support in areas such as training and skill development, resource efficiency, exploiting ideas, accessing international opportunities and growing your business. For example, we have just launched the Business Coaching for Growth programme, which aims to help up to 10,000 high growth businesses a year to address barriers to growth and grow more rapidly.
	Support is also available from the new Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), which was announced on 3 January and offers manufacturing SMEs practical support on all aspects of manufacturing, including direct access to manufacturing experts with a proven track record.
	Finally, manufacturing companies in South East London will be eligible to apply for the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative, announced in December 2011, which will support investment in training to improve skills as well as expenditure on research and development and capital equipment.

Manufacturing Industries: Redditch

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to promote manufacturing in Redditch County constituency.

Mark Prisk: Manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Redditch can take advantage of our new streamlined Solutions for Business portfolio: eligible companies can gain support in areas such as training and skill development, resource efficiency, exploiting ideas, accessing international opportunities and growing your business. For example, we have just launched the Business Coaching for Growth programme, which aims to help up to 10,000 high growth businesses a year to address barriers to growth and grow more rapidly.
	Support is also available from the new Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), which was announced on 3 January and offers manufacturing SMEs practical support on all aspects of manufacturing, including direct access to manufacturing experts with a proven track record.
	Manufacturing companies in Redditch will also be eligible to apply for the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative, announced in December 2011, which will support investment in training to improve skills as well as expenditure on research and development and capital equipment.
	Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is putting in place a range of local initiatives to complement these national measures. These include a ‘business development’ forum to assist expanding companies experiencing barriers to growth, work to establish sector-specific skills requirements and a recent workshop to promote the opportunities which are still available from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and future international sporting events. Redditch based Slick Seating Systems, AMS Group and Alto Seating are among the Worcestershire firms to have secured Olympic contracts.
	The LEP will be holding its first annual conference on 23 February, which will be an opportunity for local manufacturers to put forward their views on priorities for stimulating business growth in the region.

Manufacturing Industries: Trade Competitiveness

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effects of delays in the speed of supply chain production on the global competitiveness of leading UK manufacturing companies; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 7 February 2012
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not carried out any formal assessment of the effects of delays in the speed of supply chain production on the global competitiveness of leading UK manufacturing industries.
	The impact of disruption to global supply chains can have an adverse impact upon the UK economy. As an example, the Office for National Statistics indicates there is some evidence of the transport equipment sub-sector and motor vehicle production being affected by the after-effects of the Japanese tsunami during the second quarter of 2011.
	The Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative, of up to £125 million, was announced on 6 December 2011 and will provide support to improve the global competitiveness of advanced manufacturing supply chains.

Olympic Games 2012

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many invitations to attend events at the London 2012 Olympics (a) he, (b) other Ministers in his Department and (c) senior officials in his Department have accepted; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: Details of hospitality received by Ministers and special advisers and the most senior officials are published on a quarterly basis and will be available for July to September 2012 in due course.

Regional Growth Fund

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills for what reasons he decided that Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and HSBC should facilitate the distribution of £95 million of Regional Growth Fund money; what steps he is taking to monitor (a) the distribution of funds and (b) any commercial advantage; and what steps he has taken to ensure that any interest accrued is used for grants or returned to the Government.

Mark Prisk: Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC bids were both successful bids from Round 1 of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF). These bids were part of a competitive process and decisions taken by the ministerial committee chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister.
	The banks schemes are an effective conduit of investment aid to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with projects that would create employment in areas that had become over dependent on the private sector. They are monitored quarterly to ensure that funds are distributed according to the terms of the offer letter which specify:
	All the RGF funding must be used for beneficiary grants. The banks may not charge any fees for administering the schemes, and interest earned on any funds held on the bank's balance sheet must be used for additional beneficiary grants or returned to HMG;
	Beneficiary grants must only be awarded to SMEs to support the purchase of new capital assets (typically plant and machinery), where the beneficiary agrees to create new employment or safeguard employment that will be lost if the investment in new plant and machinery is not made;
	Beneficiary grants can only be awarded alongside an award of a new bank loan (with normal/unsubsidised terms and conditions) for the purchase of a new asset— grants cannot be used to support refinancing of existing debt by a beneficiary. Furthermore, grants cannot be provided where the reason why the original loan application is declined is that the beneficiary has insufficient collateral to support the new debt, as in these circumstances the Government's existing Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme can help the beneficiary access commercial debt;
	The banks must use their best endeavours to support the SME project using commercial sources of funding before awarding a grant to a beneficiary;
	The schemes must operate in a manner that is consistent with European State aid rules on SME investment aid and regional investment aid. Specifically:
	where the beneficiary is located outside of the assisted areas the maximum amount of RGF support that can be provided is 10% (medium sized enterprises) or 20% (small enterprises) of eligible costs (typically the cost of the asset);
	where the beneficiary is located in an assisted area then the aid intensity can be increased by an amount between 10% and 30% depending on the level of economic vulnerability.

Regional Growth Fund

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much Regional Growth Fund money to be distributed by (a) Royal Bank of Scotland, (b) NatWest and (c) HSBC has been disbursed since the creation of the Fund.

Mark Prisk: Information relating to the progress of these schemes will be available the beginning of March 2012 when quarterly monitoring returns are due.

Regulation

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will review the one-in, one-out system for regulation.

Mark Prisk: An update on the operation of the one-in, one-out system is published every six months in the Statement of New Regulation. This document is a formal report. There are no plans to review the one-in, one-out system for regulation. Good practice is to review Government policies in a proportionate and practicable manner. This also applies to the one-in, one-out rule.

Teachers: Foreign Nationals

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of foreign national academics carrying out research in UK universities.

David Willetts: The latest available information on the employment function and nationality of academic staff is shown in the table. Figures for the 2011/12 academic year will become available from January 2013.
	
		
			 Academic staff (1)  by employment function and nationality (2) , () UK higher education institutions, academic year 2010/11 
			  Nationality 
			 Employment function UK Non-UK Not known Total 
			 Teaching only 34,235 8,355 2,415 45,005 
			 Research only 23,480 16,075 1,185 40,740 
			 Teaching and research 72,830 18,825 3,100 94,760 
			 Neither teaching nor research(3) 630 50 5 685 
			 Total 131,175 43,305 6,705 181,185 
			 (1) Covers full-time and part-time staff. (2 )The nationality field of the HESA Staff Record defines the country of legal nationality and is not necessarily the domicile of the person. (3 )Covers academic staff whose primary employment function is not teaching or research: includes vice-chancellors, medical practitioners, dentists, veterinarians and other health care professionals who undertake lecturing and research activities. Notes: 1. Figures in the table are rounded up or down to the nearest five, so components may not sum to totals. 2. Figures are on a full person equivalent basis (FPEs). Individuals can hold more than one contract with an institution and each contract may involve more than one activity. Staff counts are divided among the activities in proportion to the declared full-time equivalent for each activity. This results in counts of full person equivalents. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Staff Record.

Thermal Insulation: Training

Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Energy and Climate Change on re-training cavity wall and loft engineers to provide solid wall insulation.

Mark Prisk: Officials from this Department meet officials from the Department for Energy and Climate Change on a regular basis to discuss the Government's green growth agenda, including re-training cavity wall and loft insulation operatives and others to meet the anticipated demand for solid wall insulation. In December we announced that Government funding is available for the training of up to 1,000 Green Deal apprentices, as part of plans to insulate the UK's homes and businesses. Apprenticeships such as these offer the perfect training for creating the skilled workforce we need by providing practical on-the-job training aligned to employers' needs.
	The Department for Energy and Climate Change will soon be making an announcement concerning how they are planning to support solid wall installer training.

Trade

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the scheduled (a) dates and (b) locations are for the Explore Export regional road shows due to start in March 2012.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 6 February 2012
	UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) will support a road show event for the agri-food sector at the Foodex trade fair at the NEC Birmingham, 25-27 March. UKTI is working on the programme for further road show events next financial year (from 1 April 2012). The dates and locations of these will be agreed with industry and government partners.

UK Trade and Investment: Visits Abroad

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) UK Trade and Investment staff and (b) Ministers in his Department attended the recent World Economic Trade and Investment Forum in Davos.

Mark Prisk: No UK Trade & Investment staff or Ministers at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills attended the World Economic Forum in Davos.

UK Trade and Investment: Exports

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what staffing, resources and funding UK Trade and Investment have provided to support the Driving Export Growth initiative in the farming, food and drink sector (a) until the end of 2011-12 and (b) in 2012-13.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 6 February 2012
	In 2011-12 UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) had three headquarters-based staff in London and Glasgow responsible for agri-technology, food and drink as part of their duties. A network of international trade advisers with agri-food skills in the English regions and their colleagues in the devolved Administrations delivered UKTI export services to their client businesses. UKTI funded visits by overseas commercial officers to the UK and to international trade fairs and Taste of Britain events where they advised companies on specific markets. Under the Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) approximately £680,000 will have been used by the end of 2011-12 to support SMEs exhibiting at agri-food fairs overseas. UKTI has also allocated approximately £100,000 on other agri-food activity such as “meet the buyer” events and outward missions in 2011-12. UKTI is considering staffing and funding for agri-food in 2012-13 under the business planning process now under way. Additional funding from the autumn statement will be made available to TAP, the biggest support instrument for agri-food, and the sector can expect to gain from that increase.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Biomass

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the potential role of biomass boilers in helping local authorities reach their carbon emissions reduction targets.

Gregory Barker: Local authorities do not have carbon emissions reduction targets. However, the Government believe that biomass boilers have an important role to play in meeting our renewable energy and climate change targets along with a range of other renewable and low carbon heating solutions.

Biofuels

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the capacity for domestic wood feedstock to meet the demands of biomass generation in addition to those of UK wood processing industries; from which locations his Department expects any further supply to be sourced; what assessment his Department has made of the effect on UK wood processing industries of biomass demands for domestic wood feedstocks; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Department is leading a cross-Government UK Bioenergy Strategy considering these issues which we expect to publish in March. We are discussing our assessments closely with representatives of the wood processing and other industries to ensure we have the fullest possible evidence base.

Biofuels

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the energy that will be generated from domestic wood feedstock supplies in each year up to 2020; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: Estimates of biomass electricity generation will be included in the Government response to the recent consultation on the renewables obligation banding review which will be published later this year.

Boilers: Government Assistance

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 1 December 2011, Official Report, column 1021W, on boilers: government assistance, what assessment he has made of the effect of a future boiler scrappage scheme on (a) energy efficiency and (b) fuel poverty.

Gregory Barker: DECC has not undertaken an assessment on the effect of a future boiler scrappage scheme. However, the evaluation report of the initial scheme is publicly available at:
	http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Publications2/Energy-efficiency/English-Boiler-Scheme-Scrappage-evaluation-report
	The Department is carrying out further analysis to determine how best to use the £200 million funds announced in the autumn statement of 29 November 2011, Official Report, columns 799-810, to drive demand for the Green Deal—which will support installation of wide range of energy efficiency measures. We will use lessons learnt from the boiler scrappage scheme where appropriate.
	The new energy company obligation, in particular the affordable warmth element, will also provide further help for those in fuel poverty.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which contracts his Department has tendered or will tender in 2011-12 which require successful organisations to have a capital bond of more than £5 million; which contracts have not required such a bond; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not require organisations to have capital bonds for its contracts. All potential suppliers are checked to ensure they have sufficient funds to carry out the services of a contract before the contract is let.

Departmental Procurement

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what proportion of the total value of contracts issued or to be issued by his Department in 2011-12 have required successful organisations to put up a capital bond; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: No organisations in 2011-12 have put up a capital bond or been asked to do so.

Departmental Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 31WS, on cost of ministerial cars, whether his Department has any other arrangements for ministerial travel; and how much his Department has spent on (a) private hire vehicles and (b) taxis for each Minister since May 2010.

Gregory Barker: The cost incurred by DECC on Ministers travel by using private hire vehicles and taxis since May 2010 is set out in the following table:
	
		
			 (£) 
			 Minister (a) Cost of private hire vehicles (b) Cost of taxis 
			 Secretary of State 9,652.85 3,006 
			 Minister of State for Climate. Change 13,205.62 786.83 
			 Minister of State for Energy 5,379.59 1,066.33 
			 Parliamentary Under Secretary of State 3,246.29 1,808.75 
		
	
	Including the costs incurred by the ministerial use of the Government Car Service, DECC has spent £223,075.68 on ministerial domestic car travel in the 21 months since May 2010 compared to £303,129.83 during the single financial year April 2009 to March 2010 under the previous Administration.

Electricity

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the lifetime levelised costs, taking into account the requirement for additional capacity resulting from intermittency, of electricity generated from (a) onshore and (b) offshore wind sources.

Charles Hendry: A recent report by Arup consultants(1), contained current and projected levelised costs for onshore wind and offshore wind, reproduced in the following table.
	
		
			 Levelised costs of wind technologies 
			 £/MWh 
			  Financial close 
			  2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 
			 Onshore >5MW      
			 Low 75 72 71 69 68 
			 Medium 91 88 86 84 82 
			 High 108 105 103 101 99 
			       
			 Onshore <5MW      
			 Low 82 80 78 76 75 
			 Medium 104 102 99 98 96 
			 High 127 125 122 120 118 
			       
			 Offshore Round 2      
			 Low 149 123 95 87 81 
			 Medium 169 139 107 98 91 
			 High 191 158 121 111 104 
			       
			 Offshore Round 3      
			 Low n/a 168 127 113 92 
			 Medium n/a 192 145 129 105 
			 High n/a 225 170 151 122 
			 Source: Arup (2011). Discount rate used is the assumed investment hurdle rate (project IRR required for investment to proceed) for each technology. 
		
	
	The levelised costs are calculated on the basis of costs up to and including the first land-based sub-station. In other words, they do not include the balancing costs relating to intermittent technologies, such as the requirement for back-up capacity.
	Balancing costs are system costs that depend on the technology generation mix and the balancing methods used. Estimates of these system costs are not available on a strictly comparable basis to the technology levelised costs above.
	Analysis by Redpoint consultants (2008) suggests that the additional balancing cost in 2020 per MWh of intermittent renewables could be around £8/MWh, and that this will vary over time according to the proportion of intermittent renewables on the system(2).
	(1 )Arup (2011), “Review of the generation costs and deployment potential of renewable electricity technologies in the UK”, available at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/cons_ro_review/cons_ro_review.aspx
	(2) Redpoint/Trilemma (2008), “Implementation of the EU2020 Target in the UK Electricity Sector: Renewables Support Schemes”, available at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/cons_res/rescon_support/rescon_support.aspx

Fossil Fuels: Exploration

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with the Environment Agency on the regulatory regime for the toxicity level of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.

Charles Hendry: My officials are in involved in a regular dialogue with all of the UK environment agencies, and other key UK regulators, on issues relating to unconventional gas exploration and hydraulic fracturing. Among other things, such discussions have included the chemicals used or proposed for use in Cuadrilla's hydraulic fracturing operations.

Green Deal

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Green Deal.

Gregory Barker: The Green Deal is not yet in place. The Government's current assessment of the likely effectiveness of the Green Deal is set out in the Consultation Impact Assessment published on the 23 November 2011. It is estimated that the preferred option under the consultation proposals will deliver net benefits of £8.7 billion and lead to a total reduction in non-traded emissions of 114 MtCO2e over the lifetime of the policy. The Government are currently considering responses to the consultation, which closed on 18 January, and will publish their response in due course, along with an updated impact assessment.
	The Consultation IA can be found here:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/consultation/green-deal/3603-green-deal-eco-ia.pdf

Local Energy Assessment Fund

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many projects in London he expects to receive funding from the Local Energy Assessment Fund.

Gregory Barker: All LEAF winners have now been announced. A list has been published on our website at
	http://ceo.decc.gov.uk
	on a map giving the location and further detail of all the winners.
	21 of these projects are located within Greater London.

Natural Gas

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the potential effect of shale gas production on (a) the UK's carbon reduction targets and (b) carbon leakage.

Charles Hendry: Emissions from shale gas extraction processes will be determined by the design and conditions of a particular development and no development has been proposed for the UK. Provided that good practice is adhered to, particularly in the control of fugitive emissions of methane, we consider that shale gas should have a carbon footprint of the same order as natural gas from conventional onshore fields, and significantly lower than that of other hydrocarbon sources including coal. We will include shale gas related emissions in the UK greenhouse gas emissions inventory.
	The Environment Agency has commissioned a study to review monitoring and control practices for fugitive methane emissions from unconventional gas, with the focus being on land-based (rather than off-shore) operations. The review will compare life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from unconventional and conventional gas extraction, and assess what additional monitoring and controls might be applied to unconventional operations, if necessary, to minimise fugitive emissions.

Renewable Energy: Heating

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what plans he has for the future of the domestic renewable heat premium payment after 1 April 2012.

Gregory Barker: An announcement on further support for renewable heating in the domestic sector will be made shortly.

Renewable Energy: Heating

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether commercial-scale air source heat pumps will be eligible for the renewable heat incentive by October 2012.

Gregory Barker: DECC is considering the inclusion of air source heat pumps for RHI support. Officials have been working with the heat pump industry with the aim of addressing the issues which had previously prevented support for these technologies in the RHI.
	We are reviewing the timetable for introducing further support for renewable heat which means I cannot provide exact confirmation of the schedule at the present time, but DECC will be making an announcement on timings in the near future.

Renewable Energy: Heating

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many jobs he expects to be created in London as a result of the Renewable Heat Incentive.

Gregory Barker: The RHI offers a standard tariff to installations, differentiated only by size and technology, which is available to any non-domestic property, unaffected by location. The RHI is expected to deliver 39,000 installations through 2015. This is expected to support a large number of jobs, however DECC is not attempting to quantify the regional impacts of job creation or support caused by the RHI.

Renewable Energy: Heating

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many organisations in London he expects to receive support from the Renewable Heat Incentive up to 2015.

Gregory Barker: The RHI offers a standard tariff to installations, differentiated only by size and technology, which is available to any non-domestic property, unaffected by location. As such, DECC is not attempting to estimate the number of organisations in any given region which will receive support up to 2015. In total, DECC's latest estimates are that some 39,000 installations will be delivered by 2015.

Renewable Energy: Heating

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much investment in renewable heat in London he estimates will result from the Renewable Heat Incentive up to 2015.

Gregory Barker: The RHI offers a standard tariff to installations, differentiated only by size and technology, which is available to any non-domestic property, unaffected by location. As such, DECC is not estimating the level of investment in any given region up to 2015. In total, DECC's latest estimates are that some 39,000 installations will be delivered by 2015, within a spending envelope of £864 million over the period to 2015.

Warm Homes Scheme

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many pensioners in London are eligible for the automatic £120 rebate on their energy bills through the Warm Homes Discount.

Gregory Barker: Eligibility for the Warm Home Discount Core Group rebate is linked to the type of benefits received. In 2011-12, older people will be eligible for a discount of £120 off their electricity bill if on the qualifying date of 11 September 2011:
	they were in receipt of the guarantee credit element of pension credit only; and
	they (or their partner) were named on their electricity bill; and
	they received their electricity from a supplier participating in the scheme.
	167,290 pensioners were in receipt of pension credit guarantee credit only in the London region in May 2011 (the latest available data). We expect that many of these pensioners will meet the other requirements set out above and be eligible for the Warm Home Discount Core Group rebate. The majority of those eligible will receive the discount automatically, although some will need to claim. All those who are or may be eligible will receive a letter from Government before the end of February 2012.
	In addition to the Core Group, pensioner households may also benefit from assistance with their energy bills through the Broader Group and legacy spending elements of the Warm Home Discount scheme.

TRANSPORT

Aviation: Iraq

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her officials plan to visit Iraq to discuss direct flights between Iraq and the UK; and when any such visits will take place.

Michael Penning: Officials from the Department plan to visit Iraq soon to discuss with the Iraqi authorities the possibility of direct flights.

Blue Badge Scheme: Cumbria

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many Blue Badge permits for disabled drivers have been issued in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: Figures are not held by parliamentary constituency. Figures are available at local authority level for the last three years and the data for Cumbria are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Total number of Blue Badges issued in Cumbria 
			 2008-09 11,823 
			 2009-10 11,482 
			 2010-11 11,539

Bus Services: Olympic Games 2012

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures are in place to ensure that any additional buses required in London for the London 2012 Olympics do not affect bus services elsewhere in the country; and what estimate she has made of the number of buses which will be displaced during the Olympics for such purposes.

Michael Penning: No displacement of buses from elsewhere in the country is expected. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) recognise the need to ensure that people's daily bus services are not adversely impacted by the requirements for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games.
	As part of the procurement for spectator bus and coach services to provide the park and ride and rail shuttles and direct services to some venues, ODA awarded the tender to a bus operator who showed that there would be no adverse impact on their existing operations elsewhere in the country.
	Throughout the procurement and planning process for bus and coach services to transport athletes, officials and other members of the Games Family, LOCOG received assurances from its contractors that they can provide the level of resources contracted without impacting their existing day to day operations elsewhere in the country, in particular registered bus services.
	Transport for London (TFL) published, in December 2011, its plans for temporary changes to bus services in London. These maintain London's current comprehensive network during the Games while accommodating temporary changes to the road network and enhancing capacity where appropriate to meet increased demand.

Departmental Food

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of food purchased by her Department was produced in the UK in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: Between 2007 and 2010 DEFRA published three annual reports on food procurement which covered the period April 2006 to March 2009. The final one of this series is available at
	http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/policy/publicsectorfood/documents/100226-food-proc-initiative.pdf
	A summary of all three years is on page 4 of this document.
	The data for year 4 was not captured by the Department.
	For year 5, the available information from across the Department is as follows:
	For DFT(c) over the last 12 months, 70% of food purchased, through its food and catering services contractor, was produced in the UK.
	For the period 1 September 2011 to 31 January 2012, 54% of food purchased by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) through its food and catering services contractor was produced in the UK.
	The Highways Agency (HA) procures food via its Facilities Management contract. The contractor does not report this data to the Department.
	The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) procures food through a PFI contract that has been in place since 29 March 2005. The contractor does not report this data to the Department.
	The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) does not have a significant spend on food and does not capture this data.
	The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) has not had any on-site catering facilities since 2009.
	The Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) have not purchased any food in the last two years.
	The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) does not record the requested information centrally.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department plans to take to encourage private sector capital investment in its infrastructure investment programme.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport (DFT) investment programme includes projects in procurement that are estimated to attract £6 billion in capital investments from private sector capital investment.
	DFT is working with Infrastructure UK on developing an integrated view of future investment by identifying and prioritising pipeline infrastructure projects. Infrastructure UK, alongside DFT, will work closely with developers and funders in order to stimulate increased private sector investment in transport infrastructure projects.
	DFT has also started work on reforming Rail Refranchising in order to attract increased private sector investment to deliver improvements to the railways.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 476W, on Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, when she plans to publish the results of the consultation; and which organisations in Scotland have been consulted.

Michael Penning: We aim to publish a summary of responses and announce our future plans as soon as possible after the consultation has closed and analysis has been completed.
	Key stakeholders have been invited to participate in the consultation, including the Scottish Government and police forces, courts and local authorities in Scotland. The Scottish Motor Trade Association is also being consulted as part of the wider programme of stakeholder engagement. Additionally, the most frequent customers of each local office have also been asked to give their views. These include a cross section of Scottish businesses involved in the motor trade.
	Responses have already, been received from individuals and businesses using the five local offices in Scotland.

Driving: Older People

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether her Department has assessed the efficacy of (a) self-assessment and (b) the use of a compulsory medical assessment to determine the fitness to drive of older people.

Michael Penning: No formal assessment has been undertaken by the Department, on the efficacy of self-assessment or the use of compulsory medical reviews to determine the fitness to drive of older people, independent research and recent publications on the elderly and driving, report that there is no evidence that greater intervention had a positive effect on older driver road safety.
	Each year around 70,000 medical investigations result from self declaration at age 70 and over. For those who declare that they have a medical condition, medical reports and appropriate medical and driving assessments are used to determine fitness to drive.
	The declaration of whether a medical condition affecting driving fitness is present including confirmation that a number plate can be read from the appropriate distance, has proven to be effective.
	The current medical licensing regime supports Great Britain having some of the safest roads in the world.

Heathrow Airport

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what operational freedoms her Department is considering in respect of Heathrow airport.

Michael Penning: Two measures are being considered under the current operational freedoms trial at Heathrow: the more flexible use of tactically enhanced arrivals measures (TEAM) and the use of tactically enhanced departures measures (TEDM). Further details can be found at:
	http://www.heathrowairport.com/noise
	Once assessed, the results of the trial will form the basis for a consultation with local communities which will inform the Government's decision on whether an operational freedoms regime should be adopted at Heathrow on a more permanent basis.

Heathrow Airport

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions (a) she and (b) her officials have had with BAA on the introduction of mixed mode at Heathrow airport.

Theresa Villiers: None. As stated in a written ministerial statement on 7 September 2010, Official Report, columns 13-14WS, the Government remain firmly committed to runway alternation and will not be reviving the plans for mixed mode considered by Ministers in the previous Government.

High Speed 2

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether she has plans for the future mutualisation of High Speed Two Limited.

Justine Greening: The Government will explore all the potential options available for long-term ownership of HS2 in order to provide the best value to the taxpayer. No decisions on the long-term ownership of HS2 have been made at this stage.

High Speed 2

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether compulsory purchase orders served as a result of the High Speed 2 project will proceed in the event of a change of route.

Justine Greening: No, as the Government would not use compulsory purchase powers unnecessarily.

High Speed Trains: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2012, Official Report, column 916W, on high speed trains: Scotland, what estimate she has made of the additional capacity for freight which will arise on the West Coast Main Line as a result of High Speed 2; and what discussions she has had with rail operators on such estimates.

Justine Greening: The recent Network Rail and Passenger Focus report, “Future Priorities for the West Coast Main Line: Released Capacity From a New High Speed Line”, notes that HS2 is likely to enable in full the forecast growth in rail freight on the southern section of the West Coast Main Line (WCML). This is currently the busiest and. Most congested section of the WCML, for both freight and passengers, and effectively acts as a bottleneck on the level of freight services that can run through to the northern sections of the line.
	The second phase of HS2 (the lines from the West Midlands to Leeds and Manchester) will relieve the further freight capacity constraints in relation to traffic to the North West.
	Network Rail is currently investigating options for enhancing the capacity of the WCML north of Preston for potential delivery between 2014 and 2019 in order to meet the current forecasts for increases in rail freight demand.
	A number of rail freight operators and organisations responded to the recent HS2 consultation.

Large Goods Vehicles

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 31 January 2012, Official Report, column 566W, on large goods vehicles, which local authorities her Department has answered questions from regarding large goods vehicles trials.

Michael Penning: The Department has answered questions from South Gloucestershire council and from Banwell parish council, and has agreed to meet representatives of Bath and North East Somerset council.

London Olympics 2012

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many invitations to attend events at the London 2012 Olympics (a) she, (b) other Ministers in her Department and (c) senior officials in her Department have accepted; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Penning: Ministers and senior officials in the Department for Transport have not accepted any invitations to attend events during the London 2012 Olympics.
	Details of hospitality received by Ministers and special advisers and the most senior officials are published on a quarterly basis and will be available for July-September 2012 in due course.

M1: Fires

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when her Department will publish the report into the scrap yard fire that caused disruption on the M1 in April 2011.

Michael Penning: The investigation and subsequent criminal proceedings following the M1 Deans Brook Viaduct fire are the responsibility of the Metropolitan police and Crown Prosecution Service.
	As a result of the fire, the Highways Agency and Network Rail carried out audits to categorise potential sources of fire risk from third party activities at other critical locations beneath, or adjacent to, their respective networks.
	The Highway Agency audit included recommendations that have been developed into an action plan, which is currently on programme for completion before the end of spring 2012.

M25

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the recommendations of the Report by the National Audit Office on Procurement of the M25 private finance contract, what progress has been made on (a) the development of a strategy for managing the risks of introducing demand management on the M25 by 30 July 2011 and (b) implementing demand management measures on the M25.

Michael Penning: The National Audit Office Report on procurement of the M25 private finance contract was considered by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts (CPA) in December 2010. The Department of Transport and the Highways Agency gave evidence at that hearing. The resulting CPA report did not recommend the production of a strategy to manage the risks of introducing demand management measures.
	The benefits of the current widening of the M25 are not dependent on demand management techniques being implemented. Since 2009, widening of the M25 has been limited to dual four lanes, and once the current widening schemes between junctions 16 to 23 and 27 to 30 are completed a total of 35 miles of M25 will have been widened. Subject to statutory processes all 35 miles will incorporate mandatory variable speed limits. Work is programmed to start upgrading a further 27.4 miles of the M25 by 2015 by managed motorway techniques, which incorporate similar variable mandatory speed limits.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when she expects the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to revise its national contingency plans to reflect the removal of emergency towing vessels and Maritime Incident Response Group services; and whether she has any plans to test the revised arrangements in the Southwest Approaches.

Michael Penning: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is about to undertake a major review of the National Contingency Plan (NCP) for Marine Pollution from Shipping and Offshore installations.
	This review will reflect the findings and recommendations arising from: the Deep Water Horizon Incident in the Gulf of Mexico; those of the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (OSPRAG); those emergent from Exercise SULA; and those of the UK Oil and Gas Regulatory Review. The reviewed document is expected to be issued in the latter part of 2012 once all stakeholders have had the opportunity to provide input and comment.
	Following withdrawal of the emergency towing vessels, the responsibilities for the provision of towage in the waters around the UK will also form part of this review. Similarly, the ending of the Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG) as part of the UK's incident response toolbox will be reflected in the new NCP.
	There are currently no specific plans designed to test towage provision or previously undertaken MIRG response activity for the south-west. However, the NCP review will address national exercising arrangements across all levels of emergency incident response, from that deemed as a local area responsibility (Tier 1) through those requiring a wider regional response (Tier 2) and finally, to those warranting the whole range of national engagement (Tier 3). Where appropriate a variety and combination of incident response activities will be programmed and undertaken which best test our capabilities across the waters of the UK.
	The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has made arrangements for shipping to be alerted in the areas affected. The relevant coastguard co-ordination centres are actively monitoring shipping using the automatic identification system (AIS) and will be proactive in contacting ships that are observed to be stopped at sea or behaving erratically. Coastguards will monitor tug availability in the waters around the UK and will encourage ship masters, owners and their insurers to take early action to summon tug assistance should ships get into difficulty or become disabled. Coastguards will also advise the principal salvage and towage brokers about the existence of a disabled vessel so that they can match market capabilities with demand.
	Additionally, Her Majesty's Coastguard has longstanding arrangements with ports, harbours and tug brokers for the supply of tugs in an emergency situation using the Coastguard Agreement for Salvage and Towing (CAST).
	The CAST establishes pre-agreed terms for the hire of tugs which, subject to availability, can be engaged to assist vessels that get into difficulty or which are disabled. This helps to provide tug assistance of last resort, with the cost being borne by Government. It also serves to provide the Secretary of State's Representative—SOSREP, with the means to exercise his powers of direction and intervention on maritime salvage.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency roadside tax disc checks there in Kent in each of the last five years; and how many drivers have been prosecuted as a result of such checks.

Michael Penning: The information requested is not readily available and would incur disproportionate costs to gather. However, during 2011, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency operated 84 roadside tax disc checks using its automated number plate recognition vehicles in Kent.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency roadside tax disc checks there have been in the London borough of Bexley in each of the last five years; and how many drivers were prosecuted as a result of such checks.

Michael Penning: The information requested is not readily available and would incur disproportionate costs to gather. However, during 2011, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency operated one roadside tax disc check using one of its automated number plate recognition vehicles in the London borough of Bexley.

Public Transport: Finance

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of the funding announced in the autumn statement to limit rail and Transport for London fare increases will be spent on (a) Transport for London services, (b) London and South East rail services, (c) regional rail services and (d) inter-city rail services.

Michael Penning: As part of the autumn statement of 29 November 2011, Official Report, columns 799-810, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that an additional £136 million would be provided, under the GLA Transport Grant, to Transport for London.
	This was part of the Government funding package which limited the increase to regulated rail and Transport for London fares in January 2012 to the retail prices index plus 1%.
	Under devolution it is for the Mayor of London to decide transport priorities in London and to allocate his budget (including the grant funding received from the Department) accordingly. Decisions about where to spend this additional money will therefore be for the directly elected Mayor and not the Government.

Railways: Tickets

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding her Department has provided to (a) Transport for London and (b) train operating companies in the South East for the implementation of smartcard ticketing in each of the last five years; and how much funding her Department has provided in (A) Passenger Transport Executive areas, (B) Bristol and (C) Nottingham in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: Funding has been provided to TFL to ensure that the London Oyster estate is equipped with the capability to read and accept ITSO products. The Department does not directly finance train operating companies for the implementation of smart ticketing.
	The Department provided a smartcard grant of £1.11 million in each of the financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11 to each of the passenger transport executives (PTEs) and to Bristol and Nottingham.
	The Department for Transport provided £31 million of grant to English local authorities in 2007-08 for the cost of producing and issuing the new England-wide bus passes. Of this, PTEs received £9.44 million, Bristol unitary authority £0.29 million and Nottingham unitary authority £0.25 million.
	Tables 1 and 2 provide a breakdown of funding provided.
	
		
			 Table 1 
			 £ million 
			  (a) Transport for London (b) Train operating companies 
			 2010-11 32.19 0 
			 2009-10 10.40 0 
			 2008-09 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 2007-08 0 0 
			 2006-07 0 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2 
			 £ million 
			  (A) PTEs (B) Bristol (C) Nottingham 
			 2010-11 6.66 1.11 1.11 
			 2009-10 6.66 1.11 1.11 
			 2008-09 0 0 0 
			 2007-08 9.44 0.29 0.25 
			 2006-07 0 0 0

Regional Airports

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps her Department is taking to ensure the long-term sustainability of (a) Blackpool airport and (b) other regional airports.

Michael Penning: We recognise the vital contribution regional airports make to local economies. The Government are currently developing a sustainable framework for UK aviation which will support economic growth and address aviation's environmental impacts. We will publish the framework for consultation in March 2012.

Roads: Accidents

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many fatal road accidents involved drivers (a) under 25 years, (b) under the influence of alcohol, (c) using hand-held mobile telephones and (d) who passed their driving test in the 12 months preceding the accident in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in each of the last five years.

Michael Penning: The information requested on item (a) is detailed in the following table:
	
		
			 (a) Number of reported fatal road accidents involving drivers under 25 in the Westmorland and Lonsdale (1)  parliamentary constituency 2006-10 
			 Number of accidents 
			 Westmorland and Lonsdale (1) 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 Fatal accidents involving driver under 25 3 2 1 0 1 
			 (1) Based on 2010 parliamentary boundaries. 
		
	
	Information relating to items (b), (c) and (d) is not available at parliamentary constituency level. However the Department does collect information on factors contributing to road accidents, which is available at regional level. The relevant figures for north-west region are given in following table:
	
		
			 Number of reported fatal road accidents (1)  in the former north-west Government office region by contributory factor 2006-10 
			 Number of accidents 
			 Contributory factor reported in accident 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 (b) Driver impaired by alcohol 34 24 24 21 13 
			 (c) Driver using mobile phone 2 5 1 0 0 
			 (d) Learner or inexperienced driver/rider 8 8 9 8 4 
			 (1 )Includes only accidents where a police officer attended the scene and in which a contributory factor was reported. 
		
	
	The contributory factors reflect the reporting officer's opinion at the time of reporting and are not necessarily the result of extensive investigation. Moreover it is recognised that subsequent inquires could lead to the reporting officer changing his opinion. It is important to note where some factors may have contributed to a cause of an accident it may be difficult for a police officer attending the scene after the accident has occurred to identify these factors.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of expenditure by each local authority (a) overall and (b) per head of population on road maintenance in each of the last 10 years.

Norman Baker: The Department for Communities and Local Government publishes overall local authority data on expenditure by service, which includes categories on road maintenance. The raw data for 2010-11 is available at:
	Revenue:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/revenue201011localdata
	Capital:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/capitallocaldata201011
	We do not hold these data per head of population by local authority.
	However, the following table provides data on total road maintenance expenditure in England on an annual basis, including per head of population. This does not provide a breakdown of expenditure by each individual local highway authority as the Department for Transport does not hold these data. The grant formula and distribution of this funding are the responsibility of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
	
		
			 Table 1: Maintenance expenditure (1)  on local authority managed roads, England: 1996-97 to 2009-10 
			 £ million at 2009-10 prices 
			  Treatment    
			 Road class Structural Routine and other Total per capita Population estimate (2) 
			 Non-trunk roads      
			 1996-97 1,210.6 1,171.1 2,381.6 49.1 48,519,100 
			 1997-98 1,091.1 1,080.3 2,171.4 44.6 48,664,800 
			 1998-99 997.8 1,107.4 2,105.2 43.1 48,820,600 
			 1999-2000 1,296.5 925.3 2,221.8 45.3 49,032,900 
			 2000-01 1,503.5 849.1 2,352.6 47.8 49,233,300 
			 2001-02 1,740.8 928.7 2,669.6 54.0 49,449,700 
			 2002-03 1,837.0 962.8 2,799.8 56.4 49,649,100 
		
	
	
		
			 2003-04 1,860.1 1,038.9 2,899.0 58.1 49,863,300 
			 2004-05 2,003.0 1,080.8 3,083.8 61.5 50,109,700 
			 2005-06 1,943.3 1,136.9 3,080.3 61.0 50,466,200 
			 2006-07 1,842.5 1,118.0 2,960.4 58.3 50,763,900 
			 2007-08 1,792.0 1,212.7 3,004.7 58.8 51,106,200 
			 2008-09 1,762.4 848.6 2,611.0 50.7 51,464,600 
			 2009-10 1,984.4 1,174.9 3,159.4 61.0 51,809,700 
			 (1 )Includes expenditure on bridges. (2 )Population estimates for the first year of the financial years (e.g. data for mid-2007 is presented for 2007-08). Source: Department Communities and Local Government LA Outturn, ONS Population Estimates

Severn River Crossing

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the Severn Bridges Act 1992 Account 2010-11, what estimate she has made of the date on which the Severn Bridges concession will expire; and what discussions she has had on the ownership of the bridges after that date.

Michael Penning: The concession will end when a defined sum is collected from the tolls, currently set at £995.83 million in July 1989 prices. The end date is variable due to the unpredictability of traffic flows and other factors. At present, we estimate that the concession on the Severn Crossing will expire in 2017. However, we are currently negotiating with the concessionaire over how changes to the tax regime in 2007 should be handled under the concession agreement, and the projected date of expiration may change as a result.
	No decisions have been taken on the future of the Crossing; officials meet regularly with the Welsh Government, and are in communication over alternative post-2017 scenarios.

Speed Limits: Schools

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions her Department has had with Lancashire County Council on variable 20 mph speed limits outside schools.

Norman Baker: My officials have had various discussions with officials in Lancashire county council on this subject between April 2011 and January 2012.
	In October 2011, the Department for Transport issued a national authorisation to all local authorities (including Lancashire) which permitted them to erect traffic signs to indicate advisory part-time 20 mph speed limits without further reference to the Department. Authorities may continue to apply to the Department for authorisations to permit the erection of signing to indicate mandatory part-time 20 mph speed limits.
	An authorisation for the use of the signs to indicate a mandatory part-time speed limit at 12 school sites was issued to the council in January 2012.

Transport: Finance

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of her Department's integrated transport block and highways maintenance grants she has allocated to (a) integrated transport authorities, (b) shire counties and (c) unitary authorities in 2011-12.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport has published tables on its website providing information on how much local transport capital funding has been allocated for integrated Transport and Highways Maintenance Block grants in financial year 2011-12 for (a) integrated transport authorities, (b) shire counties and (c)unitary authorities. These are available at:
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/local-transport-capital-block-funding/block-capital-grants-2011-2012.pdf
	Further details were published following the additional £50 million allocated to the Integrated Transport Block grant, as announced in the autumn statement of 29 November 2011, Official Report, columns 799-810.
	http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/local-transport-capital-block-funding/top-up-allocation-data.pdf

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Constitutions: Reform

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will establish a commission to consider constitutional reform.

Mark Harper: The Government have established a Commission on Devolution in Wales, led by Paul Silk, which is looking at the case for devolving fiscal powers and will review the powers of the National Assembly for Wales in general, recommending modifications to improve the present constitutional arrangements.
	The Government have also established a Commission on the consequences of devolution for the House of Commons, led by Sir William McKay, to consider how the House of Commons might deal with legislation which affects only part of the United Kingdom, following the devolution of certain legislative powers to the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the National Assembly for Wales. The Government have no current plans for any further commissions into constitutional reforms.

West Lothian Question

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent progress he has made on the West Lothian question; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Harper: I made a written ministerial statement on 17 January 2012, Official  Report, columns 35-36WS, on the establishment of the Commission on the consequences of devolution for the House of Commons. The Commission will begin its work this month and is due to report during the next parliamentary Session.

HEALTH

Ambulance Services: Greater London

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions the response time by the London Ambulance Service to an emergency call has been over nine minutes in (a) the London borough of Bromley and (b) London in the last six months.

Simon Burns: This information is not centrally held. My hon. Friend may wish to approach the chief executive of the London Ambulance Service.

Cancer

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the level of investment made in the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology's proposed satellite centre.

Paul Burstow: Decisions about the provision of local health services, including cancer services, are a matter for the local national health service. As such, no assessment has been made by the Department.
	A number of proposals are in development following an independent review of the future configuration of cancer services in the Liverpool area, commissioned by the Merseyside and Cheshire NHS Cancer Network on behalf of the Merseyside and Cheshire primary care trusts.
	The outline business case for the proposals is at an early stage. Investment figures will be identified through the development of the business case.

Dementia: Research

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding was provided for medical research into dementia in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11; and what proportion of the health research budget this represented in each year.

Simon Burns: Dementia is a research priority for the Government. Through the National Institute for Health Research and the Policy Research Programme, the Department funds a wide range of research on dementia including research on causes, diagnosis, treatment, and organisation and delivery of health and social care services. The amount spent by the Department on dementia research in the years from 2008-09 to 2010-11, and the proportion of the Department's central research and development revenue budgets this represented, is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Spend (£ million) Proportion (percentage) 
			 2008-09 18.4 2.2 
			 2009-10 12.7 1.4 
			 2010-11 18.6 1.9

Eating Disorders

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what Government guidelines his Department publishes for the (a) treatment of eating disorders and (b) prevention of eating disorders; and what targets exist in respect of such conditions;
	(2)  what his Department's total budget for prevention of eating disorders was in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12.

Paul Burstow: This Government take the issue of eating disorders, especially among young people, very seriously.
	NICE guidance, ‘Eating disorders: Core interventions in the treatment and management of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa arid related eating disorders’ was published in 2004 and is due for review in January 2014. Early intervention is essential for those with eating disorders and we have been clear that general practitioners are expected to use NICE guidance when choosing the most appropriate treatments, from physical and psychological treatments to medicines.
	There are no specific targets in respect of the prevention of eating disorders, nor has the Department set aside a specific budget. The Government Equalities Office have begun a campaign which aims to reduce the burdens that popular culture places on an individual's well-being and self-esteem. The Government have convened a group of experts to identify non-legislative solutions to tackling low levels of body confidence. This includes representatives from health care, fashion, beauty, media, advertising, and the voluntary sector.

Gynaecology: Medical Treatments

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  with reference to his proposals for reform of the NHS, how he proposes that the NHS Commissioning Board will ensure that Clinical Commissioning Groups (a) follow the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence clinical guidance and (b) ensure that women have access to Uterine Artery Embolisation as a first-line treatment for symptomatic fibroids where clinically appropriate;
	(2)  how he proposes that the NHS Commissioning Board will ensure that Clinical Commissioning Groups commission appropriate treatment options for women with symptomatic fibroids including minimally invasive procedures such as Uterine Artery Embolisation.

Simon Burns: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published guidance on the safety and efficacy, of Uterine Artery Embolisation for fibroids through its interventional procedures programme. NICE interventional procedures guidance makes recommendations on whether procedures are sufficiently safe and efficacious for use in clinical practice, but does not provide guidance on whether they represent a clinically and cost-effective use of national health service resources.
	Subject to the passage of the Health and Social Care Bill, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will be established and will publish a range of evidence-based products providing advice and guidance for the NHS on the promotion of good health and prevention of ill health. The Government have committed to ensuring that NHS commissioners will continue to be required to make funding available for drugs and treatments recommended by NICE technology appraisals. NICE'S other advice and guidance will be a valuable source of advice for local commissioners in their decision-making.
	The NHS Commissioning Board will be able to support implementation of NICE guidance by clinical commissioning groups through commissioning guidance.

Health Services: Bolton

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his estimate is of the costs of NHS reorganisation in (a) Bolton and (b) Bolton South East constituency.

Simon Burns: The impact assessment, published alongside the Health and Social Care Bill in January 2011 and republished when the Bill was introduced into the House of Lords in September, estimated the cost of the NHS modernisation to be £1.2 to £1.3 billion. This upfront cost will be more than recouped as a result of the associated cost-savings by the end of 2012-13. The saving of the modernisation will be £4.5 billion over the lifetime of this Parliament, and £1.5 billion per year from 2014-15 onwards.
	The Department has not estimated a regional breakdown of these figures, as these will depend on local decisions.
	A copy of the impact assessment has already been placed in the Library.

Health Services: Young People

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons the number of people under the age of 18 being treated by NHS hospitals rose between 2010 and 2011.

Anne Milton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 20 December 2011, Official Report, columns 1145-47W.
	We are advised that the overall increases in finished admission episodes (FAE) and accident and emergency (A&E) attendances for people under the age of 18 are not statistically significant. However, in both cases the major identifiable causes of increase are respiratory conditions. FAE for respiratory disease increased from 124,558 in the period January to August 2010 to 134,339 in the same period in 2011, an increase of 9,781 FAE (51% of the total increase in FAE). A&E attendances for respiratory conditions increased from 77,706 in the period January to August 2010 to 90,506 in the same period in 2011, an increase of 12,800 A&E attendances (10% of total increase in A&E attendances). The single largest increase in A&E attendances was attributed to ‘Diagnosis not classifiable’ which represented 56% of the total increase in attendances.
	We accept that the care of children and young people with respiratory conditions is an area for improvement and is recognised as such in the NHS Outcomes Framework 2012-13. Under ‘Helping people to recover from episodes of ill health or following injury’ an area for improvement is “preventing lower respiratory tract infections (LRU) in children from becoming serious. 3.2 Emergency admissions for children with LRU”.
	On 26 January 2012 the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), announced the development of the Children and Young People's Health Outcomes Strategy. The strategy will seek to ensure that the outcomes measured are the ones that matter most to children, young people and their families and the professionals that support them, and set out how different parts of the system will contribute to delivery of these outcomes.

Hospital Wards: Inspections

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how he plans to implement the Government's proposals that local people should inspect hospital wards; and how his Department will ensure that balanced and informed conclusions are made by such people.

Simon Burns: Formal governance arrangements for the new patient-led inspections are being established. The new inspections will have patients' views at their heart from concept to delivery. Most importantly, patients and their representatives will drive the development of the new system, under the auspices of the National Quality Board, and a Department steering group.
	The Department will be working closely with patient representative groups to ensure the involvement of patients at all stages, including development of the system, the inspection process and the validation of inspections. Local Involvement Networks, Local HealthWatch and HealthWatch England will also play a pivotal role during all stages of the project delivery to ensure the new system remains focused, and provides an informed view.
	To ensure that the new inspection process delivers a balanced and informed conclusion, the Department will use lessons learned from existing inspections of the hospital environment, alongside extensive stakeholder engagement. Training and ongoing support will also be provided.

Infant Mortality

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will fund impartial support and guidance for parents bereaved by sudden infant death.

Anne Milton: In the sad circumstances of sudden infant death, bereaved parents should receive advice from health professionals such as their general practitioner who will direct them to the appropriate services, which local national health service organisations are responsible for commissioning.
	The NHS Choices website also provides information and advice on reducing the risk of sudden infant death.. It contains information on coping with bereavement and sign posts parents to organisations that can offer support and advice. Details can be found at:
	www.nhs.uk/conditions/Sudden-infant-death-syndrome/Pages/Introduction.aspx
	The Department and Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths jointly published the leaflet on “Reducing the risk of cot death”. This leaflet is currently out of stock, however, its contents will be reviewed and further copies will be printed as part of the Start4Life programme. The leaflet provides parents with practical tips for reducing death rather than bereavement support.

NHS Trusts: Private Patients

Stuart Andrew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the private patient income was for each NHS trust in (a) cash terms and (b) as a percentage of that trust's total patient-related income in 2002-03; and what the total private patient income for each NHS trust and foundation trust was in each subsequent financial year in (i) cash terms and (ii) as a proportion of that trust's total patient-related income in that year.

Simon Burns: This information is not held centrally.

NHS: Finance

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what funding local authorities in England will receive for public health services in 2012-13 and 2013-14; and how much of the funding will be ring-fenced;
	(2)  what the cost to the public purse was of providing public health services in England in 2010-11; how much is estimated to be spent on them in 2011-12; and how much the Government intends to spend on them in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14.

Simon Burns: As a first step in estimating future grants to local authorities (LAs) for their proposed new public health responsibilities, the Department carried out analysis to provide a better understanding of primary care trust current spend on public health.
	Based on this analysis, public health spending in 2010-11 was estimated to be £5 billion, and an estimated £5.1 billion for 2011-12. The Department estimates that during 2012-13 the national health service will spend £5.2 billion on public health services, of which £2.2 billion will in future fall to LAs for their new public health responsibilities. Actual allocations for 2013-14 for LAs for public health will be announced before the end of 2012 and for the first time these will be ring-fenced.
	Work is continuing to determine public health allocations for the NHS Commissioning Board and Public Health England for 2013-14.

Organs: Donors

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many successful organ transplant operations took place in (a) Cumbria, (b) the North West and (c) England in each of the last five years.

Anne Milton: The number of organ transplants is provided in the following tables.
	
		
			 Table 1: Organ transplants performed in the United Kingdom on Cumbrian residents in the last five years, 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2011, by type of transplant and year 
			  Year of transplant 
			 Type of transplant 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Deceased donor kidney 14 9 17 8 8 
			 Living donor kidney 4 4 8 8 6 
			 Kidney/pancreas 1 0 0 1 0 
			 Pancreas 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Heart 1 2 2 2 0 
			 Deceased donor single lung 0 1 1 0 2 
			 Deceased donor double lung 0 0 0 1 2 
			 Heart/lung 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Deceased donor liver (including domino) 4 3 6 2 5 
			 Deceased donor liver lobe 0 0 2 1 0 
			 Living donor liver lobe 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 26 19 37 23 23 
			 Note: There are no transplant centres in Cumbria, the table is based on Cumbrian residents who have received transplants at transplant centres elsewhere in the UK. Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Organ transplants performed in the UK on North West residents in the last five years, 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2011, by type of transplant and year 
			  Year of transplant 
			 Type of transplant 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Deceased donor kidney 113 137 146 169 171 
			 Living donor kidney 71 79 85 104 103 
			 Kidney/pancreas 17 12 11 6 16 
			 Pancreas 4 8 8 3 2 
			 Pancreas islets 0 0 0 1 2 
			 Heart 14 14 13 15 17 
			 Deceased donor single lung 8 8 6 3 7 
			 Deceased donor double lung. 10 7 14 14 16 
			 Heart/lung 1 0 0 0 1 
			 Deceased donor liver (including domino) 51 38 56 60 52 
			 Deceased donor liver lobe 4 8 8 14 2 
			 Living donor liver lobe 1 3 0 2 5 
		
	
	
		
			 Other multi organ 1 1 2 1 1 
			 Total 295 315 349 392 395 
			 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 3: Organ transplants performed in the UK for English residents in the last five years, 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2011, by type of transplant and year 
			  Year of transplant 
			 Type of transplant 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 
			 Deceased donor kidney 996 1,144 1,195 1,270 1,277 
			 Living donor kidney 688 796 857 866 851 
			 Kidney/pancreas 153 134 133 131 138 
			 Pancreas 42 48 44 35 30 
			 Pancreas islets 1 2 8 11 19 
			 Heart 105 105 115 97 109 
			 Deceased donor single lung 24 24 29 21 32 
			 Deceased donor double lung 76 85 95 106 123 
			 Living donor lung 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Heart/lung 7 4 3 3 4 
			 Deceased donor liver (including domino) 406 411 425 440 465 
			 Deceased donor liver lobe 73 98 75 91 73 
			 Living donor liver lobe 8 12 8 6 13 
			 Other multi organ 12 21 18 12 23 
			 Total 2,592 2,884 3,005 3,089 3,157 
			 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Prostate Cancer: Drugs

David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on the use of abiraterone in the NHS.

Simon Burns: We have had no such discussions. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and its technology appraisal guidance is based on the best available evidence and is developed through consultation with stakeholders.
	NICE is currently carrying out two technology appraisals of abiraterone and recently published initial draft guidance for consultation on the use of abiraterone for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer previously treated with a docetaxel-containing regimen.

Social Services

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to support newly qualified social workers to find employment relevant to their qualifications;
	(2)  what recent steps he has taken to promote social work as a vocational career for young people.

Paul Burstow: While it is the responsibility of newly qualified social workers to find employment for themselves arid the responsibility of employers to recruit, the Department funds Skills for Care to provide a programme to enable newly qualified social workers to make the transition to the world of work in adult services.
	The Department continues to support the work of the social work reform board and their programme to make social work a more attractive profession.
	The Skills for Care framework for Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs) recognise that NQSWs need a range of support at different stages of their careers. They need:
	Support to build on the expertise and knowledge they, have developed on. qualifying programmes and how to apply this to a practice setting as a qualified worker;
	Good quality induction to the profession and to their organisation;
	Access to the correct type and level of quality supervision; and
	A structured process of continued professional development which supports them to develop their career beyond the first year in practice and to meet registration and post-registration training and learning requirements.
	It also recognises that managers need support so that they can provide the most appropriate environment possible for NQSWs and, in particular, meet their supervision and ongoing development needs.

Social Services: Expenditure

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the change has been in the proportion of gross current social services expenditure on 
	(1)  meals for people aged over 65 by each local authority in the period from 2001-02 to 2010-11;
	(2)  personal social care for those aged over 65 years by each local authority in the period from 2001-02 to 2010-11.

Paul Burstow: The information requested is currently being collated and will be placed in the Library as soon as it is available.

Tobacco: Packaging

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations his Department has received from the tobacco industry on its consultation on plain packaging for tobacco products.

Anne Milton: Since May 2011, Ministers at the Department have received a number of letters from tobacco manufacturers. While some have made reference to standardised or plain packaging of tobacco, none have specifically addressed the Government's planned consultation on tobacco packaging. Consistent with obligations as a party to the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and in accordance with the guidelines for the implementation of article 5.3 of the FCTC, Health Ministers have not had any meetings with tobacco manufacturers.
	Further information on the planned consultation on tobacco packaging is available in the written statement made by the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), on 15 December 2011, Official  Report, column 125WS, and we would encourage anyone with an interest to respond to the consultation when it is published, including the tobacco industry.

EDUCATION

Academies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many academy schools there are in England; and which local education authority has the highest number of such schools.

Nick Gibb: As at 1 February 2012, there were 1,580 academies open in England. The Kent local authority area has the highest number of open academies in England with 77 academies open.

Child Protection Review

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to implement the recommendations of the Munro review of child protection.

Tim Loughton: Good progress is being made across the full range of commitments in the Government response published in July.
	We are reducing bureaucracy and making it easier for the front line to use their professional judgment through revisions to ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ and the ‘Framework of Assessment for Children in Need and their Families’. There will be a formal 12-week consultation and we will publish revised statutory guidance by July 2012. A multi-disciplinary professional advisory group is advising us on this work.
	Government, Ofsted and the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) have come together with a range of other partners to develop and agree local child safeguarding performance information that puts professional expertise, rather than process, at the heart of local quality assurance. This was published on 23 January and is now available on the Department's website:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/munroreview/downloads/LCSPIDec2011.pdf
	We launched a public consultation asking for views on the proposed children's safeguarding national performance data:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action =consultationDetails&consultationId=1803&external=no&menu-1
	This consultation will run until 16 April 2012.
	Over the summer, Ofsted consulted on local authority child protection inspection arrangements that are more child centred. These new arrangements will begin in May 2012. All relevant inspectorates have also now agreed in principle to Professor Munro's proposed model of joint inspection to ensure that the contribution of all local services to safeguarding is examined. The inspectorates are working through what such a model will look like and when it will begin, and will give a progress update by end March 2012.
	On 31 October we published a co-produced work programme, ‘Safeguarding Children in the reformed NHS’. Phase one is under way, led by the Chief Nursing Officer and a consultation on the draft Accountabilities Framework is in progress and nearing completion.
	We have been working with partners to consider the best route to secure Professor Munro's vision of a transparent and co-ordinated offer of early help for children and families. We have engaged with partners in ADCS, health, police and education and have concluded that we do not need a new statutory duty to deliver early help and that there is sufficient existing legislation to realise Professor Munro's recommendation. We are continuing to work with partners to clarify existing legislation to emphasise the importance of early help. In the meantime we encourage local areas to continue to work to provide early help for the compelling arguments that Professor Munro articulated.
	We are working with eight local authorities to trial more flexible approaches to assessment. The early evidence from these trials and emerging findings are encouraging and suggest that both removing the distinction between the initial and core assessments and replacing nationally prescribed timescales for assessment with timely, professional judgments can have the positive impact on practice envisaged by Professor Munro. Some of these trials have been running for only a few months and we need to explore further the impact of these changes, especially for children and young people. For this reason we have extended the trials to run until 31 March 2012 and will be consulting on flexibilities as part of the ‘Working Together’ consultation.
	After consultation, and a market sounding exercise, we have taken the decision to decommission the National electronic Common Assessment Framework system (National eCAF). This is consistent with Professor Munro's view that we should remove constraints to local innovation and professional judgment that are created by prescribing approaches such as national IT systems. We are currently working with the current users of the system to ensure a smooth transition. As part of the decommissioning process we will consider the options to secure value out of the Government owned assets.
	Our reforms of child protection are underpinned by work force reform, in particular reform of the social work profession which is being led by the Social Work Reform Board and the College of Social Work.
	The Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and the College of Social Work are supporting local authorities in designating a Principal Child and Family Social Worker in every local area. These roles will play a key part in redesigning child and family social work. The Department for Education and the Department of Health have been making preparations for the appointment of a Chief Social Worker to advise Government on social work practice and the effectiveness of help being provided to children, families and adults. We are confident that the Chief Social Worker will be in post in 2012, ahead of the timeline envisaged in the Government's response.
	We are clarifying and strengthening accountabilities in the system and taking action to improve learning from serious case reviews.
	We have consulted on new guidance for DCSs and Lead Members so that we have real clarity about their roles and will be publishing the revised guidance by the end of April. My officials and I have also held discussions with groups of Local Safeguarding Children Boards Chairs to consider what might be done to strengthen their central role in challenging and monitoring the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements and we will be exploring options with stakeholders over coming weeks. This will build on our reforms around learning, early help, inspection and performance information which emphasise the importance of LSCBs.
	Improving learning from serious incidents is critical to driving improvements in practice in child protection. Following Professor Munro's recommendation to use systems methodologies for serious case reviews (SCR), we are considering how the Social Care Institute for Excellence's (SCIE) ‘Learning Together’ model can be developed further for use in SCRs. Two LSCBs, Coventry and Lancaster, are piloting the SCIE model and we have now agreed that Devon will also carry out a pilot. While the pilots are in progress, my officials are also exploring, learning from sectors such as aviation and health, other ways of ensuring effective, sustained learning from serious incidents embedded in every day practice, with greater transparency and accountability. We will be consulting formally on new arrangements for SCRs later in the year.
	We have been working with Ofsted to develop transitional arrangements in response to Professor Munro's recommendation to end Ofsted's evaluation of SCRs. In January 2012, Ofsted introduced more streamlined evaluations of SCRs with a greater focus on identifying and embedding learning in order to support improvements in professional practice.
	Implementing the Munro recommendations requires a shift in mindset. The Government response was not intended to be seen as a one-off set of recommended solutions to be imposed from the centre, but a joint venture between central Government, local agencies, local authorities and professionals. Our reforms are designed to shift the focus of the child protection system on to the things that matter most: the views and experiences of children and young people.

Departmental Data Protection

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many cases of data loss or breaches of confidentiality occurred in his Department in 2011.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 1 February 2012
	During 2011 there were six data loss cases in the Department for Education. All six cases involved either a loss of personal data or a breach of confidentiality.

Departmental Procurement

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department spent procuring products and services in 2010-11.

Tim Loughton: The Department spent £336.8 million procuring products and services in financial year 2010-11 (2009-10, £509 million).
	This figure includes spend with suppliers who are classed as a trading organisation or as a non-trade social care provider where the products and/or services were negotiable and influenceable. The figure also includes spend with suppliers such as local government, charities or housing associations and other non-trade organisations.

Departmental Training

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many away days his Department has held since May 2010; what the location was of each such away day; how many staff attended; and what the cost was of each such event.

Tim Loughton: Information for Ministers and the Department's Board away days is set out as follows:
	
		
			 Meeting Date Period of event Location Number of staff Cost (food, refreshments) (£) 
			 Meeting 1 17 July 2010 1 day Sanctuary Buildings, London 21 112.82 
			 Meeting 2 27 February 2011 1 day Sanctuary Buildings, London 26 (1)192.88 
			 Meeting 3 9 September 2011 1/2 day Sanctuary Buildings, London 20 200.00 
			 Meeting 4 10 January 2012 1 day Sanctuary Buildings, London 24 228.70 
			 (1) Meetings 1 and 2 were held at the weekend. To avoid substantial costs, heating was isolated to the part of the building where the meetings were taking place. The electrical monitoring capability within the building was not available for meeting 1 and so specific usage could not be monitored. Heating costs for meeting 2 was £548.39. 
		
	
	Information for the rest of the Department is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Given the financial constraints on administrative costs in the Department, staff are clear that any events to bring staff together from across our sites, should be held in the most appropriate departmental buildings.
	Where this is not possible, any meetings organised outside the Department's buildings, where accommodation costs and other charges are involved, are done so with careful consideration to cost and in accordance with the principles of ‘Managing Public Money' and the Treasury handbook on ‘Regularity and Propriety':
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/psr_governance_valuefor money.htm

Education: Epilepsy

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will undertake a review of the educational support given to children with epilepsy.

Nick Gibb: We have no plans to undertake a review of the educational support given to children with epilepsy. The Departments of Education and Health published guidance on managing medicines in 2005. It is designed to help schools and early years settings and their employers to put in place effective management systems to support individual children with medical needs. It includes practical guidance on common conditions such as epilepsy. The guidance is currently being updated.

Free Schools

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress he has made in allowing (a) the Thérèse Lord School in Lincolnshire and (b) other proposed special free schools where parental demand exists but there is reluctance from the local authority to be established.

Nick Gibb: The Department is currently working with three projects aiming to open special free schools: Rosewood School, Southampton; City of Peterborough Academy special school, Peterborough; and Lighthouse School, Leeds. In these projects we are working constructively with the relevant local authorities. Applications for the 2013 round for free schools can be submitted between 13 and 24 February 2012 and further details are available on the Department's website at:
	www.education.gov.uk/freeschools
	While we are keen to understand the extent to which local authorities will place children in proposed special free schools, we are equally keen to understand demand for places from parents themselves.

GCSE

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the (a) unique reference number and (b) establishment number was of each school in England and Wales that entered candidates for GCSEs in school year 2009-10; what the most recent Ofsted overall rating was of each such school; and how many GCSE results were recorded by each such school through (A) Edexcel, (B) WJEC, (C) OCR and (D) AQA in school year 2009-10.

Nick Gibb: The Department for Education is responsible for education in England. The information requested based on those English schools published in the 2010 Key Stage 4 School Performance Tables has been placed in the House Libraries. Information on Ofsted overall ratings is available on their website here:
	http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/official-statistics-maintained-school-inspections-and-outcomes

GCSE

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2012, Official Report, columns 432-34W, on GCSE: assessments, what the main changes were in data collection and reporting methodology referred to in footnote 2 to Table 1; to what extent these changes have affected the answer; and whether the data in Table 1 refer to the total number of subject entries or the number of unique pupils or individual papers and modules.

Nick Gibb: The main changes in data collection since 2004-05 on eligibility for extra time in GCSEs and GCEs are:
	In 2004 the National Assessment Agency introduced an online tool for schools and other exam centres to record access arrangements such as extra time that could be decided locally.
	In 2008 the Qualifications and Curriculum Agency introduced a new facility for exam centres to process all access arrangements online.
	On both occasions, the new tools were complemented by extensive training initiatives by these two bodies to ensure that staff in schools and colleges recorded applications correctly.
	The changes had been made to ensure that all centres collected adequate evidence to confirm eligibility for these access arrangements, which was subject to inspection.
	The reporting of applications for extra time has therefore steadily grown more reliable over the reporting period. The recorded figures therefore over-state the true increase in eligibility for this access arrangement and it is not possible to estimate the extent to which the change is real.
	The data in Table 1 of that question reflect the total number of candidates awarded extra time in a given academic year but it is not subject specific. Any individual candidate may have had access to additional access arrangements such as a reader, a scribe and/or a word processor; extra time of up to 25% may not have been the sole arrangement for the candidate. In addition, these figures show extra time that was allocated; this does not mean that it was necessarily used by the candidates.

Languages: GCSE

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils took each foreign language at GCSE level in Gillingham and Rainham constituency in the last year; and what proportion of them achieved grades between A* and C.

Nick Gibb: The information requested on pupils taking each foreign language at GCSE level in Gillingham and Rainham constituency can be found in the following table:
	
		
			 Number of pupils (1,2,3)  entering each foreign language GCSE (4)  and percentage achieving A*-C grades (5,6)  in Gillingham and Rainham constituency (7) , south-east region (8)  and England (9) , 2009/10 
			  Gillingham and Rainham South East England 
			 Number of eligible pupils(3) 1,081 90,934 575,970 
			     
			 Number of pupils taking GCSE French 172 23,206 134,664 
		
	
	
		
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A*-C grades 64.0 71.5 67.7 
			     
			 Number of pupils taking GCSE German 97 10,438 58,364 
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A*-C grades 83.5 75.7 72.7 
			     
			 Number of pupils taking GCSE Spanish 121 9,030 46,483 
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A*-C grades 86.0 72.7 69.9 
			     
			 Number of pupils taking GCSE Italian (10)— 609 2,834 
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A *-C grades (10)— 81.6 85.6 
			     
			 Number of pupils taking GCSE Modern Greek (10)— 18 332 
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A*-C grades (10)— 100.0 913 
			     
			 Number of pupils taking GCSE Chinese (10)— 222 1,300 
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A*-C grades (10)— 94.1 93.5 
			     
			 Number of pupils entering GCSE Panjabi (10)— 67 790 
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A*-C grades (10)— 89.6 81.1 
			     
			 Number of pupils entering GCSE Polish (10)— 305 2,411 
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A*-C grades (10)— 96.1 95.6 
			     
			 Number of pupils entering GCSE Russian (10)— 54 845 
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A*-C grades (10)— 100.0 92.5 
			     
			 Number of pupils entering GCSE Turkish 4 50 1,211 
			 Of which:    
			 Percentage achieving A*-C grades 100.0 96.0 92.7 
			 (1) Figures do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. (2) Figures include all maintained schools (including CTCs and academies). (3) Pupils at the end of key stage 4 in the 2009/10 academic year. (4) Only those language GCSEs where at least one pupil in Gillingham and Rainham took the subject are shown in the table. Therefore Dutch, Danish, Portuguese. Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Urdu and Persian are not included in the table as no pupils were entered for these language GCSEs. (5) Percentage achieving A*- C based on the number of pupils entering each subject. (6) Including attempts and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years. (7) Parliamentary constituency figures are based on the postcode of the school. (8) Regional figures are based on the region of the local authority maintaining the school. (9) England figures are the sum of all local authority figures. (10) Figures not shown in order to protect confidentiality. Source: National Pupil Database

Maternity Services: Data Protection

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the proportion of primary care trusts who do not share live-birth data with local authority children's services for use by children's centres and associated early years outreach programmes.

Sarah Teather: The Department has made no assessment of the proportion of primary care trusts who do not share live-birth data with local authority children's services. Local authorities have different arrangements for sharing birth data depending on local relationships with professionals such as health visitors and outreach support in children's centres.
	The Department of Health and the Department for Education recognise that effective sharing of live birth data and related information is essential to maintain a national record on childhood immunisation and is critical to safeguarding and integrated working. The Department of Health is doing further work on the information and intelligence functions that will support public health outcomes for children in preparation for the establishment of Public Health England and the transition of Directors of public health to local authorities. Such arrangements could include the sharing of information.

Mossbourne Academy

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will require Mossbourne Academy to publish information about its school exclusion rate; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Department does not require individual schools to publish data on exclusions. However, if they wish to do so, schools are free to publish this information themselves. The Department publishes annual statistics on exclusions available at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001016/index.shtml
	and will continue to provide these statistics by local authority.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he plans to introduce a social and emotional well-being service in schools in England.

Nick Gibb: We have no plans to do so.

Pupil Referral Units

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to publish the Government's strategy on pupil referral units and behavioural support services.

Nick Gibb: In September, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), asked his behaviour adviser, Charlie Taylor, to conduct a review of alternative provision. Mr Taylor's report on that review will form the basis of the Government's continuing strategy on pupil referral units and alternative provision. We expect the report to be published before the end of March.

Pupil Referral Units

Ben Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he has any plans to allow pupil referral units to convert to academy status.

Nick Gibb: The Education Act 2011 included provision to enable pupil referral units (PRUs) to convert to academy status by creating a new category of academy—the alternative provision academy. We are currently consulting on regulations that will allow the management committees of PRUs to apply for academy orders, which is the legal process to enable a PRU to become an alternative provision academy. We will publish information about the process for this shortly, making sure that all the necessary information is available for PRUs to make an informed decision about whether to apply to convert.

Reading: Primary Education

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the effect of his proposals for phonics screening at age six on children's development.

Nick Gibb: The phonics screening check, which will be implemented nationally in June 2012, is designed to provide reassurance that children have reached the expected standard in phonic decoding and to identify pupils who need extra help.
	The check was piloted with 300 schools in 2011, and an independent evaluation was carried out by Sheffield Hallam university. The evaluation looked at the ease of administration of the check, and its suitability for a wide range of pupils. The evaluation found that the check enabled 43% of teachers to identify pupils with reading difficulties of which they were not previously aware, enabling them to target additional support to help pupils to progress. All aspects of the screening check were seen as suitable by at least 74% of teachers in the pilot.
	We will evaluate the impact of the screening check when it is rolled out nationally, including its effect on the teaching of literacy and its impact on pupils' future attainment.

Schools: Bible

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many copies of the King James Bible he plans to distribute to schools; and what estimate he has made of the cost of doing so;
	(2)  if he will place in the Library a copy of the message he plans to include in the front of each copy of the King James Bible that will be distributed to schools as part of the King James Bible project;
	(3)  if he will publish a list of all paper and electronic correspondence between (a) Ministers, (b) officials and (c) special advisers in his Department and (i) the Cabinet Office and (ii) 10 Downing Street in which the King James Bible project was discussed in the last 12 months;
	(4)  whether he plans to publish guidance to schools on the use of copies of the King James Bible that he plans to distribute to them; and whether his Department will oblige children to read scripture as part of that project.

Nick Gibb: The story of the King James Bible, and its impact on the English speaking world, can help pupils—of all faiths and none—better appreciate our language and literature, democracy and culture.
	To mark the 400th anniversary year of the publication of the King James Bible, the Department for Education is sending a facsimile copy to each state primary and secondary school in England. This will enable all pupils to understand its place in our nation’s identity and history.
	We are working to achieve the best possible value for money and will be fully transparent about the costs when they are finalised.
	We hope this exercise will inspire teachers to teach about the impact of the King James Bible, although there is no requirement on them to do so. We are not prescribing that every child must read the King James Bible, nor are we prescribing its role in the curriculum.
	Printing will commence in the next few months. There will be no foreword from the Secretary of State for Education. We will place a copy of this edition in the library when it is ready for distribution to schools. Information relating to internal discussion and advice is not normally disclosed.

Schools: ICT

Michael Ellis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the recommendations of the Royal Society's report entitled, “Shut down or restart?: The way forward for computing in UK schools”, published in January 2012.

Nick Gibb: We welcome the publication of the Royal Society study on the state of computing in schools, which makes a valuable and timely contribution to this important area. The report's conclusion that the teaching of ‘Information and Communication Technology’ (ICT) in schools needs reform is consistent with other evidence on the shortcomings of ICT and related qualifications in schools. That is why we are now consulting on withdrawing the existing ICT Programmes of Study and Attainment Targets from September 2012. This will free schools to develop more innovative ICT curricula with a greater focus on computer science, drawing on support from industry and other expert groups.
	ICT will however remain a compulsory subject at all key stages, pending the outcome of the current review of the national curriculum in England.

Science: GCSE

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children in Dartford constituency achieved A* to C grades in GCSE (a) biology, (b) chemistry, (c) physics and (d) combined sciences in each of the last three years.

Nick Gibb: The information requested can be found in the following table.
	
		
			 Numbers and percentages of pupils (1,2)  at the end of Key Stage 4 achieving A*-C grades in biological science, chemistry, physics and combined sciences (3)  GCSEs (4,5)  in Dartford constituency (6) , South East region and England (8) , Years: 2007-08 to 2009-10, Coverage: England 
			   2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 
			 Biological science     
			 Dartford Number 47 160 303 
			  Percentage 3.4 12.1 22.1 
			      
			 South East Number 10,088 12,469 16,820 
			  Percentage 10.9 13.9 18.5 
			      
			 England Number 52,868 65,792 91,504 
			  Percentage 8.9 11.4 15.9 
			      
			 Chemistry     
			 Dartford Number 47 147 300 
			  Percentage 3.4 11.1 21.9 
			      
			 South East Number 9,655 12,027 16,463 
			  Percentage 10.4 13.4 18.1 
			      
			 England Number 50,049 63,261 89,436 
			  Percentage 8.4 11.0 15.5 
			      
			 Physics     
			 Dartford Number 49 145 303 
			  Percentage 3.6 11.0 22.7 
			      
			 South East Number 9,678 11,932 16,491 
			  Percentage 10.4 13.3 18.1 
			      
			 England Number 49,521 62,680 89,416 
			  Percentage 8.3 10.9 15.5 
			      
			 Combined sciences (3)     
			 Dartford Number 753 604 476 
			  Percentage 54.6 45.7 34.7 
			      
		
	
	
		
			 South East Number 43,292 40,987 37,263 
			  Percentage 46.7 45.8 41.0 
			      
			 England Number 272,948 259,951 230,888 
			  Percentage 45.8 45.7 40.7 
			 (1 )Figures do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. (2) Figures include all maintained schools (including CTCs and academies). (3) Pupils who achieved A*-C at GCSE in either single science or core science. (4 )Full GCSEs only have been included (full GCSEs, double awards, accredited international certificates and their predecessor iGCSEs). Figures from 2008-09 exclude iGCSEs. 2010 figures include accredited iGCSEs. (5) Including attempts and achievements by these pupils in previous academic years. (6) Parliamentary constituency figures are based on the postcode of the school. (7) Regional figures are based on the region of the local authority maintaining the school. (8) England figures are the sum of all local authority figures. Source: National Pupil Database

Teachers: Crimes of Violence

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many teachers in each region of England have reported physical assaults on them in the last year.

Nick Gibb: Information is not available in the form requested.
	The Department collects information on the reason pupils are excluded from school. This includes data on exclusions classified as relating to physical assault, verbal abuse or threatening behaviour against an adult, but not specifically against teachers or school staff.
	Information on the number of permanent and fixed period exclusions classified as relating to ‘physical assault against an adult’ for 2009/10 is shown in the following table.
	Any violence against school staff is totally unacceptable. It is for head teachers to consider whether a particular case warrants a pupil being given a fixed-period exclusion, a permanent exclusion or other disciplinary penalty, taking account of the severity and circumstances of the assault.
	
		
			 Maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools (1,2) : Number of permanent and fixed period exclusions for physical assault against an adult (3) , 2009/10, by region in England 
			  Number of permanent exclusions Number of fixed period exclusions 
			 North East 30 670 
			 North West 80 2.010 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 60 1,960 
			 East Midlands 60 1,490 
			 West Midlands 110 1,770 
			 East of England 40 1,540 
			 London 90 2,460 
			 Inner London 40 1,130 
			 Outer London 60 1,330 
			 South East 70 2,890 
			 South West 40 1,590 
			    
			 England 580 16,370 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed, city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies). (2) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. (3) Figures relating to permanent exclusions are estimates based on incomplete pupil-level data. (4) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10, therefore totals may not appear to equal the sum of constituent parts. Source: School Census 
		
	
	The latest available data on exclusions were published in the Statistical First Release ‘Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England 2009/10’ on 28 July 2011 at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001016/index.shtml

Teachers: Retirement

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of teachers retired in each county in England in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 7 February 2012
	The information requested is not available for each county. Statistics for each local authority have been placed in the House Libraries.

Young People: Employment

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of 16 to 18-year-olds without a level 2 qualification who are in full-time work with no training element.

Tim Loughton: In the third quarter of 2011 there were an estimated 24,000 16 to 18-year-olds in England without a level 2 qualification who worked full-time and were not in receipt of any education or training.
	The estimate is based on a sample of around 50 from the Labour Force Survey which has been grossed to figure for England. The level of qualification, working patterns and training are all self-reported by survey respondents. The age is as at the start of the academic year.

PRIME MINISTER

Tax Avoidance

Nick Brown: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the use of tax avoidance schemes in the civil service;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the extent of the use of tax avoidance schemes by the senior management of public bodies.

Danny Alexander: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Treasury.
	The Government are committed to tackling tax avoidance, wherever it occurs. This applies equally to the civil service and public sector bodies. That is why I have asked officials to review the appropriateness of allowing senior public sector appointees being paid in a way that could be perceived as being to minimise tax payments. The Treasury Officer of Accounts has also written to departmental accounting officers to remind them that public sector organisations should not use artificial tax avoidance devices.

CABINET OFFICE

Business: Portsmouth

Mike Hancock: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many new jobs have been created by small businesses in Portsmouth South constituency in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many new job opportunities have been created by small businesses in Portsmouth South constituency in each of the last five years. (94778)
	The requested data are not available.

Communities First Fund

Robert Flello: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what arrangements have been put in place to ensure that the Community First Programme is accountable to the local community for its disbursement of funds.

Nick Hurd: Grant award decisions are made by a panel of local people in the eligible ward. This ensures that responsibility for decisions is taken as close as possible to the community that the grants seek to serve. More information is available from the website of the grant administrator (the Community Development Foundation, CDF):
	http://www.cdf.org.uk/web/guest/neighbourhood-matched-fund
	The panel must maintain a web site as a condition of the funding. The website is to be used to promote the programme and provide information to the community on what projects and groups have been funded. The website also provides an opportunity for more local people to get involved and also to make applications for project funding. The panel works with a local organisation as a panel partner, helping to ensure transparency and probity, and may have a local councillor as a panel member. CDF collect monitoring information on expenditure by the grant recipients.

Communities First Fund

Robert Flello: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what input local councillors will have to the distribution of funds by the Community First Programme.

Nick Hurd: Local councillors are welcome as Community First panel members, helping with the process of making grant decisions. They can play a vital role in encouraging local people and groups to get involved and to apply for funding. They cannot however be in the majority on the panel as the aim of the programme is for the community to take the lead on setting priorities and making funding decisions directly.

Communities First Fund

Robert Flello: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how the Community First Programme will ensure that all local people with an interest in being members of a local panel have an opportunity to join; and if he will ensure that priority is not given only to those who apply first.

Nick Hurd: In aiming to form panels with strong local involvement, the Community First programme has taken a number of steps to raise awareness of the chance to be a panel member. The Community Development Foundation (CDF) launched the Community First Programme on 4 October 2011, engaging with a large number of national, regional and local voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations. I wrote to all top-tier local authorities at the same time, asking for their support in helping the eligible wards take advantage of the opportunity. Local and national press has also raised awareness.
	Once in place, the Community First panel uses a website to advertise their presence, to aid transparency and to encourage involvement from the community. CDF have provided guidance to each panel to encourage them to develop and change the panel membership during the course of the programme. The subsequent development of the Community First plan is a good opportunity for more and new people to get involved in decision making in their neighbourhood.

Community Development Fund

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of Community Development Foundation grants have been made in each region in the last year.

Nick Hurd: The Community First small grants programme does not allocate the funding on a regional basis, but to council wards in top-tier local authority areas. For example, Leeds has 15 eligible wards and a total allocation over the term of the programme of up to £1,593,770. The amounts per ward range from £33,910 to £237,370. Overall, Leeds has more than 5% of the total programme allocation for small grants.
	Information on the allocations to each top-tier local authority area is available from the download section of the following web page:
	http://www.cdf.org.uk/web/guest/neighbourhood-matched-fund

Community Development Fund

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much he allocated to spend on the Community Development Foundation in each year of the current spending review; and what proportion of such spending was allocated for (a) administration and (b) grants.

Nick Hurd: The Community Development Foundation (CDF) have been awarded a contract to deliver the Community First programme, comprising fees for managing the £30 million Neighbourhood Match Fund (NMF; the small grants part of the programme) and the £50 million Endowment Match Challenge (EMC). The EMC is subcontracted by CDF to the Community Foundation Network (CFN).
	For 2011-12, the fees for the NMF are £107,000; the grants allocation in this financial year is £4.9 million. For 2012-13, the fees for the NMF are £112,000; the grants allocation is £7.4 million. For 2013-14, the fees for the NMF are £114,000; the grants allocation is £7.4 million. For 2014-15, the fees for the NMF are £117,000; the grants allocation is £9.9 million. Over the contract period, CDF will be paid £450,000 in fees for administering the NMF, representing 1.5% of the total small grants budget of £30 million.

Departmental Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 31WS, on cost of ministerial cars, whether his Department has any other arrangements for ministerial travel; and how much his Department has spent on (a) private hire vehicles and (b) taxis for each Minister since May 2010.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office does not have any other arrangements in place for ministerial travel. The Department has an account with Addison Lee. Spend by Ministers on Addison Lee cars and taxis for the period May 2010 to March 2011 is £4,234. Spend from April 2011 to December 2011 is £2,897.

Employment: Young People

David Laws: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many 18 to 24-year-olds in England were (a) employed, (b) self-employed, (c) serving in HM Forces and (d) government-supported trainees in September (i) 2009, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2011.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many 18 to 24 year olds in England were (a) employed, (b) self-employed, (c) serving in HM Forces and (d) government-supported trainees in September (i) 2009, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2011 (93759)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles employment statistics from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions. The requested estimates for 18 to 24 year olds are not available for the requested periods.
	As an alternative, table 1 shows the number of people aged 18 to 24 in England who were employed, which includes employees and self-employed, or on government employment and training programmes during the 12 month periods ending in December for 2009 and 2010 and for the 12 month period ending June 2011, being the latest period available. Estimates of those serving in HM Forces are not available from this source. Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) produce the number of HM forces by age and by region but not by age and region.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is given in the table.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of people aged 18 to 24 in England who were employed, employees, self-employed or on government employment and training programmes 
			 Thousand 
			  Employed (1) Employees Self-employed Government employment and training programmes 
			 12 months ending     
			 December 2009 2,815 2,686 129 30 
			 December 2010 2,752 2,624 128 33 
			 June 2011(2) *2,745 *2,612 **133 ***34 
			 (1) Employed includes employees and self-employed. (2) Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below. Guide to Quality:The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key:* 0 ≤ CV<5%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered precise ** 5 ≤ CV <10%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered reasonably precise *** 10 ≤ CV <20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered acceptable **** CV ≥ 20%—Statistical Robustness: Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes CV = Coefficient of Variation Source:Annual Population Survey.

Job Creation: Westmorland

Tim Farron: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many new job opportunities have been created by small businesses in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: holding answer 8 February 2012
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated February 2012
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many job opportunities have been created by small businesses in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency on each of the last 5 years. (94305)
	The requested data are not available.

Legal Proceedings

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether it is his policy to apply for costs in cases where organisations funded by his Department bring legal proceedings against it.

Francis Maude: There is no set policy to apply for costs in all cases. The Cabinet Office will generally apply for costs of litigation where it is entitled to do so. Each case is considered separately, on legal advice.
	The Cabinet Office will bear in mind any legal action taken when providing funds to these organisations in the future.

Public Sector: Procurement

Chris White: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many (a) social enterprises, (b) charities and (c) small businesses have successfully bid for public sector service contracts in each of the last five years.

Francis Maude: Data were not held previously on the number of small businesses awarded Government contracts. This Government have started tracking this for the first time and, during 2011, of 5,196 contracts published on Contracts Finder 1,842 were flagged as awarded to small businesses (35%). However this does not capture data for lower value contracts or for all parts of the wider public sector.

Senior Civil Servants: Tax Avoidance

Nick Brown: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the effect on morale in the civil service of the use of tax avoidance schemes by senior civil servants.

Francis Maude: The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander), has commissioned an immediate review of the tax arrangements of senior public appointments. No assessment has been made on the impact on morale in the civil service of any such arrangements.

JUSTICE

Civil Disorder

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department took to ensure expeditious hearing of cases following the public disorder in August 2011.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice expanded its existing prison incident response command structures to work with Criminal Justice System (CJS) partners to support the police during and after the disturbances, and to ensure that adequate resources were available across the CJS to deal with cases expeditiously. This included opening prison receptions and liaison with the judiciary to ensure courts were able to open overnight during, and in the immediate aftermath of the disturbances.
	Information on the CJS response and the contingency measures deployed across the system is available in Volume II of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Sixteenth Report of Session 2010-12—Policing Large Scale Disorder: Lessons from the disturbances of August 2011: Written evidence submitted by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) (Ev 165)
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmhaff/1456/1456ii.pdf

Civil Proceedings: Legal Costs

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of any advice his Department received from the Senior Judiciary including the Master of the Rolls on (a) qualified one-way cost shifting and (b) a 10 per cent. uplift in general damages as part of his proposed reform of civil litigation funding and costs.

Jonathan Djanogly: I have placed Lord Justice Jackson's responses to our consultations, Proposals for the Reform of Civil Litigation Funding and Costs in England and Wales and Costs Protections for Litigants in Environmental Judicial Review Cases, in the House Library.
	There have been discussions with the Senior Judiciary about how the 10% uplift in damages for non-pecuniary loss such as pain, suffering and loss of amenity is to be implemented. As I explained on 13 September 2011 to the Public Bill Committee on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, the Senior Judiciary have agreed to take this forward.
	The Civil Justice Council, chaired by the Master of the Rolls, has been assisting the Ministry of Justice with the development of qualified one way costs shifting.
	We have not received further advice on these issues from the Senior Judiciary.

Dangerous Driving: Convictions

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the number of drivers convicted of (a) causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, (b) causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs, (c) causing death by dangerous driving and (d) manslaughter within (i) less than 12 months and (ii) between 12 and 24 months of passing their driving test in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many drivers were convicted of (a) causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, (b) causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs, (c) causing death by dangerous driving and (d) manslaughter in the case of a road traffic accident in which a cyclist was killed in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. It is not possible to identify from this centrally held information the length of time since a driving test has been passed or whether a manslaughter offence is related to a road traffic accident.
	The number of defendants convicted for (a) causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, (b) causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs, (c) causing death by dangerous driving 2006 to 2010 (latest available) can be viewed in the table.
	Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in May 2012.
	
		
			 Defendants found guilty at all courts for selected motoring offences, England and Wales: 2006-10 (1, 2) 
			  Guilty 
			 Offences 2006 2007 2008 (3) 2009 2010 
			 Causing Death by careless or inconsiderate driving(4) n/a n/a 4 81 238 
			 Causing Death by Careless Driving when under the influence of Drink or Drugs 65 67 46 35 41 
			 Causing Death by Dangerous Driving 223 233 221 225 154 
			 n/a = Not applicable (1 )The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. (4) In August 2008 section 2B of the Road Traffic Act 1988 was added by the Road Safety Act 2006. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Departmental Drinks

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much (a) his Department and (b) its public bodies have spent on (i) wine, (ii) other alcoholic refreshments and (iii) bottled water since May 2010.

Kenneth Clarke: The Department's policy on the provision of alcohol prohibits the supply of any alcohol paid from tax-payers' money on in-house hospitality. For external hospitality, given the significant savings being delivered by the Department and the stringent financial controls in place, such discretionary expenditure is only incurred on the rare occasions in which director-level approval is granted.
	As part of the Department's ‘Act on CO2' emissions campaign, bottled water is no longer made available for meetings. However, jugs of tap water are made available upon request.
	The Department's accounting systems do not identify separate expenditure on wine, other alcoholic refreshments or bottled water and because such events are managed locally by business areas, for the period from May 2010 to date, the Ministry has no central records on such expenditure. To obtain information on departmental expenditure on these specific items would involve disproportionate cost.

Drugs: Convictions

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were charged with possession of cannabis in (a) Dartford constituency, (b) Kent and (c) England in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for cannabis possession in England and the Kent police force area, from 2006 to 2010 (latest available) can be viewed in the table.
	Charging data are not collated centrally by the Ministry of Justice therefore proceedings data have been provided in lieu.
	Court proceedings data are not available centrally at parliamentary constituency level.
	Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in May 2012.
	
		
			 Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts for cannabis possession, England and Kent police force area, 2006 to 2010 (1, 2) 
			 Area 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 England      
			 Proceeded against 12,616 14,103 17,846 21,374 25,100 
			       
			 of which:      
			 Kent police force area(3)      
			 Proceeded against 1 49 403 412 440 
			 (1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) We are aware of under-reporting issues in the Kent police force area in 2006 and 2007. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Legal Aid scheme

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the effect on demand for legal aid in respect of private family law of implementation of an assumption of shared parenting.

Jonathan Djanogly: As part of existing work to reform legal aid, the Government have already announced that, from April 2013, the majority of private family cases will be out of the scope for legal aid.
	Court is often not the best way to resolve disputes about the arrangements for children following parental separation or divorce. Mediation can be quicker, cheaper and less acrimonious than court proceedings and legal aid will therefore remain available for mediation in private law family cases to those who are eligible. We estimate that legal aid spend on family mediation will increase by £10 million a year taking the total annual spend to £25 million.
	Legal aid will also remain available for private family law cases where there is evidence of domestic violence and cases where a child is at risk of abuse. We will also continue to provide civil legal aid for the victims of domestic violence to apply for protective injunctions and will continue to waive the financial eligibility limits in these cases.
	The Government recently indicated in its response to the Family Justice Review its intention to make a legislative statement emphasising the importance of children having an ongoing relationship with both their parents after family separation, where that is safe, and in the child's best interests. We have established a working group of Ministers to develop proposals for legislative change, which will be brought forward for wide debate and consultation later this year. The impacts on legal aid will be considered as part of an overall impact assessment, informed by consultation responses.
	This is a complex and difficult area that affects many parents and children and we are determined to make the right decision. We are mindful of the experience in Australia and the need to ensure that any welfare or safety issues are appropriately considered and that any change to legislation does not lead to an increase in litigation.

Legal Aid Scheme: Abu Qatada

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost to the public purse was of legal aid for cases involving Abu Qatada in each year since 2001.

Jonathan Djanogly: The case against Abu Qatada is ongoing. It would be wrong of me to either comment on or to disclose specific details concerning the costs of any case while it is still ongoing.

Legal Aid Scheme: Harrow

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2012, Official Report, column 362W, on solicitors: Harrow, which firms of solicitors in the London borough of Harrow have active legal aid contracts for financial years (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Djanogly: Following is a list of the 25 solicitor firms or not for profit providers with offices that will have legal aid contracts in Harrow in the financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13:
	Provider office name
	Arthur & Co.
	Blaser Mills
	Brooklyn Solicitors
	Camerons Jones
	Caplans
	David Phillips & Partners
	Duncan Lewis Solicitors
	Goodwins
	Hanson Young & Co. Solicitors
	Harrow Law Centre
	Harrow Law Partnership
	Harrow Solicitors and Advocates
	Johal & Co.
	Law Partnership Solicitors
	LMK Law
	M2M Community Solicitors LLP
	Mills Chody
	Nicholls Christie & Crocker
	Redferns
	Samy & Co.
	Siddiqui & Co.
	Thakker & Co.
	Thakrar & Co.
	Walter Wilson Richmond
	Wick & Co.
	Current legal aid contracts are due to expire in 2013 so the position on contract awards in 2013-14 is not yet known.

National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders: Finance

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding (a) his Department and (b) its non-departmental public bodies have provided to Nacro in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: The following table provides details of payments made to Nacro and its related organisation in each of the last five financial years recorded in our central financial system. Payments are made to Nacro from the National Offender Management Service, and the non-departmental public bodies expenditure relates to payments made by the Youth Justice Board.
	
		
			 £ 
			  Payments to Nacro 
			  (a) NOMS payments (b) YJB Payments 
			 2006-07 1,473,060.70 53,160.06 
			 2007-08 1,120,033.02 19,167.84 
			 2008-09 2,854,805.12 2,568.70 
			 2009-10 3,182,237.56 1,811.25 
			 2010-11 3,846,846.94 3,408.00

Offenders

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many hearings for offenders serving indeterminate sentences for public protection and whose release was refused by the Parole Board because they had completed insufficient courses were delayed by up to (a) two months, (b) six months and (c) one year after their tariff had ended in each year since 2007;
	(2)  how many offenders serving indeterminate sentences for public protection were refused parole because they had not completed a course specified in their sentence in (a) 2007, (b) 2008, (c) 2009, (d) 2010 and (e) 2011.

Crispin Blunt: The stated reasons for the Parole Board not directing the release of prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection are not recorded centrally, but are held on prisoners' individual case file.
	There are around 3,500 prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection and whose tariff expiry date has passed. In order to answer the question fully we would have to search each of these files to establish the Parole Board's reason for not directing release. This would breach cost limits.

Offenders: Drugs

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many and what proportion of offenders who have been treated by Nacro (a) nationally and (b) at the Bridge Project in Witham subsequently reoffended within (i) one month, (ii) two months, (iii) three months, (iv) six months and (v) one year.

Crispin Blunt: Data identifying those offenders who have been treated by Nacro nationally or at the Bridge Project in Witham is not held by the Ministry of Justice. For this reason, the re-offending rates of these offenders are not available.

Offenders: Rehabilitation

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offenders served part or all of their sentence working on community projects in Dartford constituency in each of the last three years.

Crispin Blunt: This information is not available in relation to the Dartford constituency. The numbers of offenders allocated to Community Payback work projects in the borough of Dartford during the last three years are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of offenders 
			 2009 117 
			 2010 98 
			 2011 108

Prisoners

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will review the prisoner rating system.

Crispin Blunt: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has no plans to review the prisoner security categorisation system. It is carrying out a review of security arrangements for escorting prisoners outside of prison. Part of that review will look at ensuring that the correct security arrangements are in place for the escorting of all prisoners, taking into account the category of prisoner and assessed security risks. It will also reinforce the importance of public protection as part of the categorisation process.

Prisoners: Christmas

Robert Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of Christmas parties held for adult prisoners in 2011.

Crispin Blunt: Detail of the cost of one-off activities in prisons is not available centrally. This could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by examining expenditure locally in each establishment, and disaggregating and then collating the costs.
	Prison Service Instruction 38/2010 provides instructions on activities in prisons. It does not preclude or mandate specific activities, but sets out that in authorising activities and events for prisoners, operational managers should consider how they will contribute to NOMS objectives or local targets, specific offender needs or the maintenance of a safe and decent regime, without undermining public confidence in the criminal justice system.

Sentencing

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people received sentences of between 30 and 48 months for each type of charge relating to (a) offences against the person, (b) sexual offences and (c) property crimes in each of the last three years.

Crispin Blunt: The number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts, found guilty at all courts, and sentenced to immediate custody by sentence length, for various offence types, in England and Wales, from 2008 to 2010 (latest available) can be viewed in the table.
	Annual court proceedings data for 2011 are planned for publication in May, 2012.
	
		
			 Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts, found guilty at all courts, and sentenced to immediate custody by sentence length, for various offence types, England and Wales, 2008 to 2010 (1,2) 
			 2008 (3) 
			      Sentence length 
			 Offence type Proceeded against Found guilty Sentenced (4) Immediate custody Up to but not including 48 months 30 months up to and including 48 months Over 48 months (5) 
			 Violence against the person 59,941 41,517 41,441 13,380 10,144 1,333 1,903 
			 Sexual offences 8,421 5,116 5,121 3,000 1,209 584 1,207 
			 Burglary 30,850 23,882 23,651 9,960 7,797 1,790 373 
			 Robbery 13,096 8,475 8,495 5,095 2,444 1,553 1,098 
			 Theft and handling stolen goods 123,876 110,921 110,348 21,008 20,708 249 51 
			 Criminal damage 12,234 9,628 9,574 1,157 845 202 110 
		
	
	
		
			 200 9 
			      Sentence length 
			 Offence type Proceeded against Found guilty Sentenced (4) Immediate custody Up to but not including 48 months 30 months up to and including 48 months Over 48 months (5) 
			 Violence against the person 65,431 43,450 43,215 14,085 11,007 1,412 1,666 
			 Sexual offences 9,369 5,107 5,093 2,987 1,119 630 1,238 
			 Burglary 30,871 22,983 22,765 10,028 7,694 1,909 425 
			 Robbery 13,655 8,645 8,664 5,155 2,440 1,693 1,022 
			 Theft and handling stolen goods 125,509 111,981 111,514 19,958 19,606 284 68 
			 Criminal damage 9,975 7,860 7,836 1,037 709 207 121 
		
	
	
		
			 2010 
			      Sentence length 
			 Offence type Proceeded against Found guilty Sentenced (4) Immediate custody Up to but not including 48 months 30 months up to and including 48 months Over 48 months (5) 
			 Violence against the person 66,644 44,794 44,458 13,982 10,879 1,379 1,724 
			 Sexual offences 10,564 5,784 5,772 3,287 1,251 709 1,327 
			 Burglary 31,811 23,909 23,599 10,447 7,967 2,036 444 
			 Robbery 13,704 8,499 8,514 4,946 2,345 1,561 1,040 
			 Theft and handling stolen goods 135,726 121,794 121,230 22,284 21,883 322 79 
			 Criminal damage 9,961 7,778 7,754 1,096 746 238 112 
			 (1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (3) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. (4) The number of offenders sentenced can differ from those found guilty as it may be the case that a defendant found guilty in a particular year, and committed for sentence at the Crown court, may be sentenced in the following year. (5) Includes life and sentences of imprisonment for public protection introduced by the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Social Security Benefits: Ethnic Groups

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of appellants to the Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal were from ethnic minorities in the last year for which figures are available; and what proportion of such applicants were appealing employment and support allowance, disability living allowance and incapacity benefit decisions.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal does not routinely request or record information on the ethnicity of appellants.
	However, a customer satisfaction survey was carried out for the Tribunals Service in 2009-10 which showed that there were no differences in the outcome of appeals by ethnicity. The following table shows the percentages of appellants surveyed whose appeals were successful or unsuccessful in the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) jurisdiction of the Social Entitlement Chamber.
	
		
			 Appeal outcomes of appellants surveyed—Social Security and Child Support Tribunal 
			   Percentage 
			 Base Successful Unsuccessful 
			 Total (1,246) 51 47 
			     
			 Ethnicity    
			 White (1,152) 51 47 
			 Non-white (87) 53 43 
		
	
	The survey also reported on appellants’ level of satisfaction with the service provided. The following table shows the satisfaction levels reported by appellants to the SSCS jurisdiction.
	
		
			 Customer satisfaction of appellants surveyed—Social Security and Child Support Tribunal 
			   Percentage 
			 Base Satisfied Dissatisfied 
			 Total (1,246) 68 26 
			     
			 Ethnicity    
			 White (1,152) 69 26 
			 Non-white (87) 62 31

Youth Justice

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 January 2012, Official Report, column 520W, how many juvenile offenders in each youth offending team area (a) received a court disposal, (b) were sentenced to custody, (c) were remanded in custody and (d) were subject to court ordered secure remand in England and Wales between April 2010 and March 2011.

Crispin Blunt: The following table shows the number of juvenile offenders in each youth offending team (YOT) in England and Wales who (a) received a court disposal; (b) were sentenced to custody; (c) were remanded in custody; and (d) were subject to court ordered secure remand between April 2010 and March 2011.
	The data to answer this question have been drawn from across two administrative databases within the Youth Justice Board (YJB). The data for court and custodial disposals come from the Youth Justice Management Information System (YJMIS), the data for remand to custody and court ordered secure remand come from the Secure Accommodation Clearing House System (SACHS).
	Due to delays in technical updates to the YJMIS in the latter part of 2011 there are some data quality issues with the court disposal data. For this reason, the YJB has not published this local level data and is currently waiting for the completion of the YJMIS update and a resubmission of the 2010-11 data before publishing.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time.
	
		
			 Number of juvenile offenders who (a) received a court disposal; (b) were sentenced to custody; (c) were remanded in custody; and d) were subject to court ordered secure remand, England and Wales, April 2010 to March 2011 
			 Youth offending team (YOT) (a) Court disposals (b) Custodial disposals (c) Remanded to custody (d) Court ordered secure remand 
			 Barking and Dagenham 478 36 44 7 
			 Barnet 330 18 31 2 
			 Barnsley 397 22 22 4 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 167 10 3 2 
			 Bedfordshire 539 14 20 6 
			 Bexley 275 7 20 0 
			 Birmingham 1,695 174 125 15 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 339 29 19 0 
			 Blackpool 475 27 15 11 
			 Blaenau, Gwent and Caerphilly 416 24 5 4 
			 Bolton 488 27 16 5 
			 Bournemouth and Poole 360 12 15 5 
			 Bracknell Forest 70 1 3 0 
			 Bradford 1,033 99 62 9 
			 Brent 472 41 71 15 
			 Bridgend 188 19 8 3 
			 Brighton and Hove 356 20 24 5 
			 Bristol 819 48 52 6 
			 Bromley 308 16 25 0 
			 Buckinghamshire 379 13 11 3 
			 Buy 287 28 8 0 
			 Calderdale 372 31 25 3 
			 Cambridgeshire 726 25 21 1 
			 Camden 443 38 28 10 
			 Cardiff 578 30 35 2 
			 Carmarthenshire 264 14 12 2 
			 Ceredigion 67 1 2 0 
			 Cheshire 623 18 23 4 
			 Conwy and Denbighshire 237 6 7 1 
			 Cornwall 415 11 8 0 
			 Coventry 628 51 40 10 
		
	
	
		
			 Croydon 762 51 54 26 
			 Cumbria 833 40 21 1 
			 Darlington 152 0 9 2 
			 Derby 474 54 38 14 
			 Derbyshire 873 41 22 7 
			 Devon 732 22 14 3 
			 Doncaster 598 53 36 10 
			 Dorset 331 5 8 0 
			 Dudley 262 16 9 2 
			 Durham 665 19 17 6 
			 Ealing 367 38 41 8 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 468 17 20 4 
			 East Sussex 724 26 29 5 
			 Enfield 566 36 45 8 
			 Essex 1,418 67 40 6 
			 Flintshire 212 7 4 1 
			 Gateshead 439 15 5 0 
			 Gloucestershire 499 17 8 2 
			 Greenwich 513 37 31 4 
			 Gwynedd Mon 301 16 7 3 
			 Hackney 470 36 48 11 
			 Halton and Warrington 378 25 11 1 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 329 26 24 7 
			 Haringey 557 46 40 10 
			 Harrow 282 19 18 12 
			 Hartlepool 253 8 13 1 
			 Havering 327 5 16 1 
			 Hertfordshire 1,331 42 30 3 
			 Hillingdon 409 14 32 10 
			 Hounslow 453 17 11 4 
			 Isle of Wight (1)— (1)— 17 1 
			 Islington 448 45 33 11 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 163 15 23 1 
			 Kent 1,618 57 58 13 
			 Kingston-Upon-Hull 581 34 27 4 
			 Kingston-Upon Thames 162 12 20 2 
			 Kirklees 656 73 23 6 
			 Knowsley 319 19 10 1 
			 Lambeth 483 48 85 19 
			 Lancashire 1,951 63 71 14 
			 Leeds 1,294 121 84 4 
			 Leicester City 604 37 35 9 
			 Leicestershire 465 12 20 0 
			 Lewisham 725 61 116 18 
			 Lincolnshire 739 46 29 8 
			 Liverpool 950 70 51 2 
			 Luton 389 16 11 3 
			 Manchester 1,591 133 119 15 
			 Medway 310 12 13 3 
			 Merthyr Tydfil 148 18 19 3 
			 Merton 239 13 15 7 
			 Milton Keynes 333 11 16 5 
			 Miscellaneous (1)— (1)— 8 0 
			 Monmouthshire and Torfaen 221 6 10 1 
			 Neath Port Talbot 232 12 11 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 310 12 24 8 
			 Newham 656 59 71 18 
			 Newport 357 28 27 3 
			 Norfolk 968 51 30 4 
			 North East Lincolnshire 420 37 17 5 
			 North Lincolnshire 376 37 22 2 
			 North Somerset 331 21 12 0 
			 North Tyneside 432 20 8 1 
			 North Yorkshire 786 27 34 5 
			 Northamptonshire 633 49 25 18 
			 Northumberland 449 11 14 0 
			 Nottingham 503 43 61 15 
			 Nottinghamshire 714 26 28 3 
			 Oldham 561 35 17 1 
			 Oxfordshire 463 26 30 2 
			 Pembrokeshire 133 1 6 0 
			 Peterborough 439 21 26 8 
			 Plymouth 499 15 17 1 
			 Reading 153 5 11 2 
			 Redbridge 411 27 36 6 
			 Rhondda Cynon Taff 344 33 7 1 
			 Richmond-upon-Thames 159 3 6 1 
			 Rochdale 468 58 45 4 
			 Rotherham 299 22 17 4 
			 Salford 540 44 37 2 
			 Sandwell 398 43 23 4 
			 Sefton 531 41 17 0 
			 Sheffield 789 39 36 31 
			 Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin 505 27 14 0 
			 Slough 179 11 21 2 
			 Solihull 207 12 12 5 
			 Somerset 518 16 10 4 
			 South Gloucestershire 266 16 5 0 
			 South Tees 722 2B 35 9 
			 South Tyneside 445 8 12 0 
			 Southend-on-Sea 290 19 14 0 
			 Southwark 566 55 66 15 
			 St. Helens 335 6 2 2 
			 Staffordshire 626 38 24 4 
			 Stockport 457 30 11 0 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 385 13 7 0 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 553 3t 20 2 
			 Suffolk 781 31 36 7 
			 Sunderland 616 13 7 0 
			 Surrey 821 17 26 6 
			 Sutton 287 6 5 0 
			 Swansea 281 25 14 0 
		
	
	
		
			 Swindon 368 13 18 14 
			 Tameside 378 23 34 2 
			 Thurrock 267 14 4 2 
			 Torbay 243 8 1 0 
			 Tower Hamlets and City of London 512 19 35 7 
			 Trafford 366 26 15 4 
			 Vale of Glamorgan 171 10 4 4 
			 Wakefield 399 26 20 4 
			 Walsall 480 37 24 3 
			 Waltham Forest 524 35 34 12 
			 Wandsworth 486 39 46 9 
			 Warwickshire 397 12 11 4 
			 Wessex 3185 117 78 33 
			 West Berkshire 199 2 8 0 
			 West Sussex 1,072 29 21 7 
			 Westminster 308 24 31 4 
			 Wigan 473 23 11 4 
			 Wiltshire 433 4 1 5 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 105 5 2 0 
			 Wirral 684 30 27 1 
			 Wokingham 91 1 2 0 
			 Wolverhampton 425 48 25 5 
			 Worcestershire and Herefordshire 865 42 25 10 
			 Wrexham 195 4 21 4 
			 York 336 6 9 0 
			      
			  79,747 4,494 3,977 800 
			 (1) Data is not available Notes: 1. Data for columns (a) and (b) The columns labelled (a) and (b) in the table show the number of (a) court disposals and (b) custodial sentences given to young people (aged 10 to 17) in each YOT area in England and Wales between April 2010 and March 2011. These are court disposals as reported by YOTs to the YJB through the Youth Justice Management Information System (YJMIS). Due to delays in technical updates to the YJMIS in the latter part of 2011 there are some data quality issues with these data (to note, the data provided here will not match the records held on local YOT case management systems). For this reason, the YJB has not published these local level data and is currently waiting for the completion of the YJMIS update and resubmission of the 2010-11 data before publishing 2. Data for columns (c) and (d) The columns labelled (c) and (d) in the table show the number of episodes started by young people (aged 10 to 17) attached to each YOT who were (c) remanded in custody and (d) subject to court ordered secure remand (remand to secure accommodation) in England and Wales between April 2010 and March 2011. An episode refers to a period a young person has spent in custody and it is possible that one young person can start more than one custodial episode at different points of each year for different offences or for change in legal basis for detention. These figures come from the YJB’s Secure Accommodation Clearing House System (SACHS) database. 3. All of these figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and may be subject to change over time.